Iconic Mark Rothko and Louise Bourgeois works to go on show for Tate Modern’s 25th birthday.
Louise Bourgeois, installation view of Maman, 1999, in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, 2000. Photo by Tate Photography. Courtesy of Tate Modern.
Monumental works by Mark Rothko and Louise Bourgeois will be shown at the Tate Modern to commemorate the London museum’s 25th anniversary in May 2025. The public celebration, hosted from May 9th to 12th, is set to feature 25 key works installed around the Tate Modern and will be free to access.
Among the works is Bourgeois’s Maman (1999), a towering, 10-meter-tall spider sculpture that will return for the first time since it inaugurated the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2000.
Maman will be the starting point for the trail of 25 works from Tate Modern’s collection, leading visitors on a journey through the museum’s history to recent acquisitions. This trail will include well-known pieces such as Mark Rothko’s “Seagram” murals and Dorothea Tanning’s Surrealist painting Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1943). The works return to Tate Modern from recent displays at Tate St Ives and Paris’s Centre Pompidou, respectively.
Installation view of Mark Rothko’s “Seagram” murals at Tate Modern, 2009. Courtesy of Tate Modern.
Elsewhere, Tate Modern will also feature several contemporary works involving film, performance, and sound. Among these works are a multi-screen, immersive film installation by Indian artist Nalini Malani and live tarot readings—part of an installation by Beninese artist Meschac Gaba.
“We wanted to celebrate our 25th anniversary with a capsule collection of 25 key works, which will lead visitors around the whole building on a journey from old favorites to new discoveries,” said Catherine Wood, Tate Modern’s director of programming. “The selection showcases how art—and Tate Modern itself—has always pushed the boundaries and challenged norms, ultimately letting us all see the world through new eyes.”
Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nacht Musik, 1943. © DACS, 2024. Courtesy of Tate.
Two new exhibitions will also open at Tate Modern in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations. “A Year in Art: 2050” will explore how artists “imagine possible futures.” Works in the show will include Umberto Boccioni’s Futurist sculpture Forme uniche della continuità nello spazio (1913) and a computer-generated animation by Korean artist Ayoung Kim, depicting a futuristic Seoul. Also set to open is “Gathering Ground,” which will address themes of land, community, and the ecological crisis. Works by artists such as Outi Pieski, Carolina Caycedo, and Edgar Calel will be featured.
“Tate Modern has made an incredible impact in just 25 years,” said Karin Hindsbo, director of Tate Modern. “It has exploded the canon of art history, transformed the public’s relationship with contemporary art, and rewritten the rules for what an art museum can be.”
