Helen Frankenthaler’s Hint from Bassano (1973) United for the First Time with the Renaissance Masterpiece That Inspired It

17 June – 5 September 2027

The H J Hyams Room (Room 1)
Admission free

In the summer of 2027, two connected paintings created four centuries apart will meet for the first time at the National Gallery. Monumental works made by Italian Renaissance artist Jacopo Bassano (1510–1592) and the American Abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) will be united in the exhibition Frankenthaler and Bassano.

Frankenthaler’s five-metre-wide Hint from Bassano (1973) will be displayed next to the painting that directly inspired it, Bassano’s The Flight into Egypt (about 1544–45) – an exceptional loan from the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena (California). Throughout her career, Frankenthaler selected works by artists she admired as starting points for her own. These pictures were neither direct transcriptions nor simple variations, but free and highly personal responses to the art of the past. Recalling her first encounter with The Flight into Egypt, Frankenthaler explained: ‘I liked it so much that I wanted to copy it. […] In my studio I mixed the colours, taking clues from Bassano. […] I wanted to get the stroke and the colour of this master.’ Working on a monumental scale, Frankenthaler evokes Bassano’s use of colour through thin washes, fluid paint and sweeping passages of luminous colour. 

The Flight into Egypt represents one of the high points of Bassano’s career. A stunning example of his dynamic and at times eccentric interpretation of biblical scenes that inspired generation of artists, the picture was last in London nearly 60 years ago. The National Gallery holds several works by Bassano, including The Good Samaritan (about 1562-3), and The Way to Calvary (about 1544–5).

The exhibition continues the National Gallery’s unique and longstanding partnership with the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena. This joint exhibition builds on a transatlantic exchange of artworks, knowledge and expertise that has flourished since the loan of Guido Cagnacci’s The Repentant Magdalene, an Italian Baroque masterpiece from the Norton Simon Museum in 2017. Most recently, the Gallery hosted Francisco de Zurbarán’s sublime Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose (1633) from Pasadena in the 2026 National Gallery Zurbarán exhibition.

In 2027, as part of its development of Project Domani, the National Gallery will present a number of displays dedicated to the relationship between artists and the tradition of art itself from the 13th century to the present day. In addition to Frankenthaler and Bassano, the Gallery will present work by the 2027 Artist in Residence Mohammed Sami, and stage an exhibition by Wangechi Mutu, recipient of the 2026 National Gallery with Art Fund Contemporary Artist Fellowship.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue on Helen Frankenthaler and Jacopo Bassano produced by National Gallery Global in association with the Norton Simon Art Foundation.

Exhibition organised by the National Gallery, London and the Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena. Following its presentation in London, the two paintings will be on view in Pasadena from 24 September to 10 January 2028.

The H J Hyams Exhibition Programme

Supported by The Capricorn Foundation