Hauser & Wirth shows Picabia 'Expanding Horizons'

Wallpaper* on May 20 drew attention to Hauser & Wirth London’s exhibition “Francis Picabia. Expanding Horizons,” a show the gallery says spans five decades of the French artist’s work. The exhibition opens May 21 at Hauser & Wirth’s London space at 23 Savile Row and is scheduled to run through August 1, according to the gallery. (wallpaper.com) Wallpaper* described the presentation as beginning with large, dark postwar paintings and linked the show to Picabia’s late years in Paris. Hauser & Wirth presents the exhibition as a broad look at an artist whose work moved across Impressionism, Fauvism, Dadaism and Cubism over the course of his career. (hauserwirth.com) ### Which Picabia show is being highlighted in London? Hauser & Wirth London is staging “Francis Picabia. Expanding Horizons” at its Savile Row gallery from May 21 to August 1, 2026, according to the exhibition page and third-party listings. The gallery’s events calendar also lists an opening reception for the show on Thursday, May 21, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in London. Wallpaper* published a review of the exhibition on May 20 and said visitors entering the show encounter “a series of large, dense, dark paintings” from Picabia’s postwar period. The magazine located those works in the years after Picabia and his wife Olga returned to their Paris studio apartment following two decades on the Côte d’Azur. (wallpaper.com) ### How broad is the exhibition’s timeline? Hauser & Wirth says “Expanding Horizons” brings together work across five decades of Picabia’s output. The gallery describes Picabia, who lived from 1879 to 1953, as an artist marked by “ceaseless experimentation” whose oeuvre moved rapidly through multiple styles and movements. (hauserwirth.com) Wallpaper* echoed that framing in its coverage, describing the exhibition as uniting five decades of work. That emphasis matches the gallery’s own presentation of Picabia as an artist whose career did not stay within a single formal language. (wallpaper.com) ### Why does Hauser & Wirth frame Picabia this way? Hauser & Wirth says Picabia’s career progressed through Impressionism, Fauvism, Dadaism and Cubism, among other approaches. On the gallery’s artist page, it also notes that by 1915 Picabia had entered his machinist or mechanomorphic period and was participating in Dada activities in New York alongside Marcel Duchamp and others. (hauserwirth.com) The exhibition title, “Expanding Horizons,” follows that account of a career defined by shifts in method and subject. That reading is the gallery’s framing, set out in its exhibition materials and reflected in listings by Ocula, Artnet and other art-calendar sites. (wallpaper.com) ### What does Wallpaper* say visitors will actually see? Wallpaper* says the first impression is shaped by Picabia’s late, large-scale paintings, which it describes as dark and dense. The review places those works in the artist’s postwar years, when, according to the magazine, Picabia continued painting despite declining health and limited money after returning to Paris with Olga. (hauserwirth.com) The article does not stand alone in flagging the exhibition. Wallpaper* also included the show in a broader roundup of London exhibitions, listing “Francis Picabia. Expanding Horizons” at Hauser & Wirth London from May 21, 2026. (hauserwirth.com) ### Where and when can people see it next? Hauser & Wirth London lists the exhibition at 23 Savile Row, London W1S 2ET, with gallery hours of Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The opening reception for “Francis Picabia. Expanding Horizons” and “Roni Horn. Seizure of Hope” is scheduled for May 21 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and the Picabia exhibition is set to remain on view through August 1. (hauserwirth.com) (wallpaper.com 1) (wallpaper.com 2)