Celebrating Robert Rauschenberg's Centennial

Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) would have been 100 years old on October 22, 2025. Museums around the world are planning exhibits to celebrate Rauschenberg’s centennial.

 

The Guggenheim New York will be exhibiting over a dozen groundbreaking works from the museum’s collection, alongside loans from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, that spotlight Rauschenberg’s use of varied media and materials. 

 

Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can’t Be Stopped will be on exhibit at the Guggenheim from October 10, 2025 through April 6, 2026.

 

The Museum of the City of New York is celebrating Rauschenberg’s centennial with an exhibition that looks at the artist’s impressive use of photography and found materials. 

Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World will be on view from September 12, 2025 through March 22, 2026.

 

The Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany and the  Fundación Juan March in Madrid, Spain will also be celebrating Rauschenberg and his enormous impact on Modern Art.

 

 

 Rauschenberg used the Chine Collé technique in conjunction with his printmaking and photography. The process involves using two layers of paper, a very thin piece on top and a heavier and more supportive piece underneath. The layers are glued together and run through the printing press. The result is a fine-detailed, delicate surface with a background color behind the image that is different from the surrounding backing sheet. (Chine translates from the French to China, which is where the thin paper often originated, collé is French for ‘glue’).

 

For his American Mix, 1983 series, available at VFA, Rauschenberg used photography and found objects with the Chine Collé technique, to capture American images.

 

Rauschenberg wasn’t exposed to much art at his childhood home in Port Arthur, Texas. It was when he was drafted in 1943 that he saw his first oil paintings at a gallery in California. The G.I. Bill helped him to pay for art classes at Kansas City Art Institute. After his first year at the Institute, he traveled to Paris, where he met American artist Susan Weil. The couple had a brief marriage that produced a son, Christopher Rauschenberg. Christopher is a photographer and served a president of the board of and chairperson of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. The Foundation is part of a coalition that has created a $12 million relief fund for artists and artworks impacted by the Los Angeles fires.

 

---

 

Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Robert Rauschenberg available at VFA.

 

---

 

August 1, 2025