Elizabeth Murray: Painters Progress

“I begin my work by making a big mess and then find my way out.” Over the course of her five-decade career, Elizabeth Murray sought to incorporate dimension and movement into painting by fracturing, splicing, and layering her canvases. In the 1980s, she experienced a breakthrough: after years of making flat, two-dimensional paintings, she began fragmenting her compositions across multiple canvases, adding dynamism and depth. Murray found catharsis in “taking something broken and trying to make it conceptually whole.”

This exhibition traces the development of Murray’s practice through a concise selection of works drawn from over 20 years, including Painters Progress (1981), one of the earliest examples of paintings the artist referred to as “shattered shapes.” Working quickly, to invite spontaneity, she began by making sketches of the forms that would become her canvases and arranging them directly on the wall. She chose to depict everyday objects such as cups and paintbrushes, distorting them into organic forms resembling heads, mouths, and uteri. Murray once likened the potential for endless interpretations of her work to searching for an image in the clouds.

This presentation is dedicated to the memory of Agnes Gund (1938–2025).

Organized by Mia Matthias, Assistant Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, with Lydia Mullin, Manager of Collection Galleries, Curatorial Affairs, and Elizabeth Wickham, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture.

This exhibition is made possible by The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Additional support is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund. Leadership contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund, in support of the Museum’s collection and collection exhibitions, are generously provided by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, the Noel and Harriette Levine Endowment, Jerry Speyer and Katherine Farley, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Marella and Giovanni Agnelli Fund for Exhibitions, Eva and Glenn Dubin, Mimi Haas, the William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund for Photography, The David Rockefeller Council, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz, Kenneth C. Griffin, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder. Major funding is provided by The Sundheim Family Foundation.

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