Block brings fifty years of Sean Scully's work to Galerie Max Hetzler on Potsdamer Straße, from 20 November 2026 to 13 February 2027. It is the Irish-born painter's second solo exhibition with the gallery, and it sets early paintings from 1974 next to new canvases from 2026 and sculptures made over the past decade. Entry is free.
Scully, born in Dublin in 1945 and raised in London, is known for paintings built from stripes and blocks of colour, laid next to and on top of each other so they read as walls, horizons or windows. The colour is never quite flat: earlier layers show through at the edges, and light seems to come through the joins.
What you will see
The earliest works are Crossover Painting (1974) and Hidden Drawing #3 (1975), from the years when Scully was working with tight grids before he loosened them into the broad bands he is known for. Blue Black Grid (2011) and Doric Europa (2012) represent the later paintings, and two canvases from 2026 are shown for the first time.
The sculptures take the stacked block into three dimensions. The largest, 55 (2025), is about six metres tall, built from 55 aluminium frames finished in car paint. Landline Cubed (2015–2020) and Air Cage 2 (2024), made from six steel crates, complete the group.
Good to know
- Dates: 20 November 2026 to 13 February 2027
- Opening: Friday 20 November, 6–8pm
- Where: Galerie Max Hetzler, Potsdamer Straße 77–87, 10785 Berlin
- Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am–6pm. Free.
- Elsewhere: a larger survey, Sean Scully. Lines of Emotion, runs at the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg until 21 March 2027.
Nearby
Kapwani Kiwanga's Carry Me / Carry On opens the same evening two minutes away at Galerie Tanja Wagner.