Image: Robert Rauschenberg
© Robert Rauschenberg, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024. Museum Ludwig, Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln.
Museum Exhibitions

Robert Rauschenberg Featured in the group exhibition 'Five Friends'

3 October 2025—11 January 2026
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany

The exhibition Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly tells the story of an influential yet often overlooked network of five prolific, prominent artists. Although all of them have been recognized as individuals, their strong reciprocal influence, artistic friendships, and romantic relationships have been widely overlooked and rarely studied.

Both individually and as a group, they played central roles in postwar art and made decisive contributions to the history of art, music, and dance with their interdisciplinary work. They continue to inspire generations of artists.

With its focus on the interaction between the five artists, the exhibition also reflects on what it meant to be a gay artist in the 1950s, casting new light on the dynamics of postwar art in the United States and beyond.

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