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Past Exhibitions


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Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris

Oct 11 2012 – Jan 13 2013

Seattle Art Museum

Simonyi Special Exhibition Galleries

Elles: Pompidou is a landmark exhibition of more than 130 works of art made by 75 women artists from 1907 to 2007. Organized by the Centre Pompidou in Paris, home to the Musée National d’Art Moderne—one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in Europe—this exhibition is an unforgettable visual experience that will challenge visitors’ assumptions about art of the past century. This ambitious survey of daring painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, video, and installation by innovative women artists offers a fresh perspective on a history of modern and contemporary art. With vision, humor, sensuality and ambiguity, these women represent the major movements in modern art—from abstraction to contemporary concerns, including identity politics.

Artists include Sonia Delaunay, Frida Kahlo, Dora Maar, Diane Arbus, Marina Abramović, Louise Bourgeois, Atsuko Tanaka, Cindy Sherman, Sophie Calle, Hannah Wilke, Nan Goldin and Tania Bruguera, among others. An exhilarating exhibition that has already become a milestone in the history of exhibitions, Elles: Pompidou will excite the casual viewer as much as the hardboiled expert.

–Marisa C. Sánchez, Associate Curator, Modern & Contemporary Art

Educational Resources
To explore this exhibition a little deeper, download our bibliography. Use our Kids Activity Guide to plan a family-friendly route along with activities throughout the galleries. (Hard copies are available at the SAM Ticketing Desk.) Teachers, integrate Elles: Pompidou into your classroom with our Elles: Pompidou Educator Resource Guide.

The Blue Room (La chambre bleue), 1923, Suzanne Valadon (born Marie-Clémentine Valadon, French; 1865–1938), oil on canvas, 35.4 x 45.7 in.


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