Cecily Brown (b. 1969, London) is one of the most celebrated artists working in painting today. Brown draws from the compositional structure, historical motifs, and virtuosic brushwork of master painters across a diverse range of genres. Using a palette ranging from bright hues to deep blacks, her works obscure singular readings as their compositions break down into restless, anfractuous, and elusive activity.

A survey of Brown’s work, Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations, is on view at the Barnes Foundation, which traveled from Dallas Museum of Art. Recent notable one-person exhibitions include Cecily Brown: The 5 Senses, Paula Cooper Gallery (2024); Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2023); Cecily Brown, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2022); The Triumph of Death, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples (2022); Cecily Brown, at Blenheim Palace, UK (2020–2021); Where, When, How Often and with Whom, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (2018); If Paradise Were Half as Nice, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo (2018), and Rehearsal, The Drawing Center, New York (2016). Her work is included in public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; the Louisiana Museum, Denmark; the National Gallery of Norway, Oslo; the Tate Gallery, London, and Glenstone Museum, Maryland.