The new exhibition at the Barnes Foundation, Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations, offers a profound exploration of the painter’s career, writes Robert Sullivan for Vogue.

A few days before her exhibit, Brown reminisced about her own gallery visits, filled with a sense of wonder.

“It’s this absolutely extraordinary experience, where you’ve just got all these paintings in your mind’s eye,” she said.

She was also excited about the dialogue between galleries that could unfold as visitors experienced the extraordinary Barnes collection, then her exhibit, and vice versa.

Brown added that she is thrilled by the prospect of people coming in and seeing “these contemporary paintings that riff off and sample,” she said.

Riffs and samples are Brown’s specialty, and the new show perfectly encapsulates the journey from her older paintings to new ones, simultaneously reflecting on the history of painting while pushing it forward.

The 30-plus works are the largest presentation of Brown’s pieces here so far with her hoping visitors take their time to truly take in her works.

“In a way, my challenge has always been to be able to make a painting that stops you in your tracks, that makes you want to look, but then keeps revealing more, the more you give to it,” she said.

Read more about Cecily Brown’s new Barnes Foundation exhibition in Vogue.

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