Rauschenberg Foundation Announces Suite of Shows to Mark the Artist’s 100th Birthday The organisation is also launching dozens of centennial grants and institutional gifts

By Adam Schrader

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation is marking the artist’s 100th birthday with a slate of international events and exhibitions, as well as series of grant-making initiatives. Launching in 2025 and continuing through 2026, the centennial activities will aim to highlight Rauschenberg’s forward-thinking ideas on art, technology, environmentalism, and social justice. 

A genre-spanning giant of American postwar art, Rauschenberg, who died in 2008, is best known for his iconic “Combines” that blend the disciplines of painting and sculpture. He was also a firm believer in art as a catalyst for social change.

“Rauschenberg’s work broke boundaries and embraced the spirit of experimentation—qualities that remain profoundly relevant to artists and society today,” said Courtney J. Martin, the foundation‘s director. “This milestone allows us to reengage with his vision through fresh perspectives, reaffirming his role as a catalyst for innovation, and a beacon for social progress.”

The foundation has helped organize seven major institutional exhibitions of his work across five countries. The first of these is “Five Friends,” which will go on view at the Museum Brandhorst in Munich, Germany in April 2025 before traveling to Cologne’s Museum Ludwig, which was the largest collector of his art in Europe while he was alive. It highlights Rauschenberg’s collaborations with other major artists of the time, including Cy Twombly, John Cage, Jasper Johns, and Merce Cunningham.

“This show really talks about that postwar period and the fact that there is this group between Abstract Expressionism and minimalism and that they share relationships with both camps,” Martin said. “But they’re also really doing their own thing. They’re the successors to one, the precursors of the other.”