The Fondation Opale (Lens/Crans-Montana) is presenting, on the 30th anniversary of her death, a solo exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential figures in 20th-century contemporary art, Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray (c. 1914–1996).
Organized in close collaboration with the Tate Modern and the National Gallery of Australia, this exhibition brings together more than 80 works and is the most comprehensive retrospective dedicated to this artist in Europe. A native of the Sandover region in Australia’s Northern Territory, Emily Kam Kngwarray began painting at around the age of 74. She first discovered the batik technique in the late 1970s within the Utopia community, before turning to acrylic painting on canvas. Her early works are characterized by chromatic vibrations within a limited color range.
During the final years of her life, she underwent a radical stylistic shift toward powerful compositions of lines and an expanded palette. Between 1988 and 1996, during an eight-year creative period that was as brief as it was exceptionally prolific, Emily Kam Kngwarray produced more than 3,000 works. In just a few years, she developed a remarkably rich pictorial language and established herself as one of the great artistic figures of the 20th century.
- Emily Kam Kngwarray (c. 1914–1996), My Country II, 1992 (detail). Acrylic on canvas. Bérengère Primat Collection, courtesy of the Opale Foundation. © Emily Kam Kngwarray/Copyright Agency/2026, ProLitteris, Zurich.