First UK exhibition of Robert Ryman's work in over 30 years, exploring his white paintings on square supports.
Robert Ryman: The Real Thing is on at the Barbican from 8 October 2026 to 28 February 2027, in the Art Gallery on Level 3. It's the first UK exhibition to take an in-depth look at his work in over 30 years.
If you've never come across Ryman, he's the American painter who spent nearly 60 years working with white paint on white canvases. Born in Nashville in 1930, he moved to New York in the early fifties with the intention of becoming a jazz saxophonist. He spent years working as a guard at the Museum of Modern Art and taught himself to paint on the side. He called himself a realist, and he rejected the usual categories of representation and abstraction to 'paint the paint' — a phrase that sums up the whole thing. For him, the subject wasn't what the painting was of, but the painting itself.
Most of his work uses white paint and a square format, and it's the kind of thing that rewards close looking. You notice the texture of the paint, the brushstrokes, the material it's on, and even how it's hung on the wall. He believed the only way to really understand painting was through experience, in person, rather than through a picture of it. He didn't stick to one surface, either; he worked across canvas, linen, fibreglass, steel, aluminium, Plexiglass and paper, using oils, acrylics, enamels and epoxies, and he often left the hanging mechanisms visible.
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Standard tickets are £20.50, with Young Barbican (16-29) at £6, Universal & Pension Credit at £11.50, Students at £15.50, and under 16s free. Art Fund members get in for £11, and Membership Plus and Membership get free entry. There's also Pay What You Can every Thursday from 5-8pm and Friday from 10am-12pm.
