Cecily Brown: Picture Making

Key Takeaways

• First UK public institution solo show since 2005.
• New paintings inspired by Kensington Gardens' landscape.
• Exhibition pairs recent works with pieces dating back to 2001.
• Highlights Brown's blend of figuration and abstraction.
• Catalogue designed by Irma Boom includes rare correspondence.

Summary

The Serpentine Galleries are hosting Cecily Brown’s first UK institutional solo exhibition since 2005, titled “Picture Making,” from 27 March to 6 September 2026 at Serpentine South. The show pairs newly created paintings inspired by Kensington Gardens with key works dating back to 2001, offering a 25‑year overview of Brown’s evolving practice. Themes of nature, park life, and Victorian fairy‑tale motifs recur, while her vigorous brushwork blurs the line between figuration and abstraction. A specially designed catalogue by Irma Boom adds correspondence and interviews, deepening the exhibition’s scholarly value.

Pulse Analysis

Cecily Brown’s "Picture Making" at the Serpentine underscores the artist’s transatlantic trajectory, linking her New York studio practice with the formative memories of London’s Royal Parks. While Brown has long been celebrated for her energetic, painterly gestures, this homecoming exhibition situates her work within a specific geographic narrative, allowing visitors to trace how the park’s flora and fauna have become visual metaphors for desire, transformation, and the uncanny. By juxtaposing fresh canvases with seminal pieces from the early 2000s, the show creates a dialogue between past and present, highlighting the continuity of her bold colour palette and the fluidity of her compositional structures.

Thematically, the exhibition leans heavily into nature and park life, reinterpreting familiar motifs—amorous couples, woodland strolls, and Victorian fairy‑tale figures—through a contemporary lens. Brown’s technique, characterized by dense brushstrokes and collapsing perspective, invites viewers to navigate a space where bodies merge with surrounding landscapes, challenging conventional narrative reading. This visual strategy resonates with current trends in contemporary art that favor immersive, experience‑driven encounters, positioning the Serpentine’s garden setting as an active participant rather than a mere backdrop.

From a market perspective, "Picture Making" reaffirms Brown’s relevance in the high‑end art sector, likely spurring renewed interest from collectors and institutions worldwide. The inclusion of a limited‑edition catalogue designed by Irma Boom, featuring rare correspondence with painter Celia Paul, adds scholarly heft and collectible appeal. As the exhibition draws both local audiences and international tourists, it strengthens the Serpentine’s reputation as a platform for pivotal career milestones, while reinforcing the broader narrative of British contemporary painting on the global stage.