With the exhibition Diane Arbus: Constellations, the Gropius Bau is presenting the most comprehensive exhibition to date of the work of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. With her expressive black and white photographs, Diane Arbus has radically challenged aesthetic conventions and opened up new perspectives. The survey exhibition shows 454 photographs — many of them public for the first time — which opens up a broad spectrum of her work. Her focus is on couples, children, drag performers, suburban families and famous personalities such as Mae West and James Brown, but above all on everyday and extraordinary life in the United States in the post-war period.
The retrospective at the Gropius Bau unfolds as a labyrinthine constellation of images and dispenses with traditional organisational patterns such as chronology or themes. Visitors are invited to wander freely between the photographs, to discover resonances and relationships between the motifs and to be inspired by the diversity and intensity of the work. Diane Arbus worked primarily in New York City and created a multi-layered portrait of her time that continues to fascinate and challenge today.
