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A century ago this fall, Robert Rauschenberg was born in Texas. He went on to become a Pop art pioneer and one of the most renowned American artists of this era. Now, museums and galleries across the globe are planning shows that honor the artist's expansive creativity, spirit of curiosity and commitment to change.
For its part, NYC's Guggenheim Museum on the Upper East Side will host a major show called "Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can't Be Stopped," running from October 10, 2025–April 5, 2026. The show will feature more than a dozen historic pieces, including Rauschenberg's monumental painting "Barge," all which reflects the artist’s radical legacy.
RECOMMENDED: There is a hanging garden inside the Guggenheim Museum's rotunda
The Guggenheim's show will be drawn from its own collection as well as loans from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and focuses on the artist's experiments with using photographs in drawing, painting and printmaking. Rauschenberg's radial use of media imagery and commercial printing techniques led critics to associate him with Pop artists such as Andy Warhol. Like Warhol, Rauschenberg was also enamored with contemporary culture. As he once said to an interviewer, "I want paintings to be reflections of life, and life can't be stopped."
Among the highlights of the Guggenheim show is the 32-foot-long silkscreen painting "Barge," mostly created over a 24-hour period in the early 1960s. It's joined by an untitled silkscreen 1963 painting, which introduced vibrant color into his work. One of the earliest pieces in the show is a piece from 1953 called "Untitled (Red Painting)," in which the artist layered brith red paint over a collaged newspaper. Other pieces show how his transfer methods evolved over the decades.
The Guggenheim and Rauschenberg have had a long relationship over the years. The museum first included him in a 1961 group show, followed just two years later by a show called by Six Painters and the Object, which was the first museum exhibition of Pop art in New York. In 1997, the Guggenheim presented the most comprehensive retrospective of his career to date—a landmark exhibition spanning its building on Fifth Avenue, the former Guggenheim SoHo and a satellite gallery on Hudson Street.
"Robert Rauschenberg's centennial is not only a moment to honor his legacy but also a call to renew our commitment to the radical curiosity and spirit of collaboration that defined his life and work," Courtney J. Martin, Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation said in a press release. "The Guggenheim has been a vital partner in sustaining that legacy."
While you're at the Guggenheim also check out Rashid Johnson's "A Poem for Deep Thinkers," which features an extraordinary hanging garden. It's on view through January 18, 2026.