Fondation Opale
Route de Crans 1
1978 Lens
From 14 June to 8 November 2026, Fondation Opale presents Emily Kam Kngwarray, a monographic exhibition coinciding with the 30th anniversary of her passing. Dedicated to one of the most significant figures of 20th-century contemporary art, Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray (c. 1914–1996), the exhibition is organised in close collaboration with Tate Modern and the National Gallery of Australia. It brings together more than 80 works and constitutes the most comprehensive retrospective dedicated to the artist in Europe.
Born in the Sandover region of Australia’s Northern Territory, Emily Kam Kngwarray began painting at around the age of 74. She first encountered batik in the late 1970s within the Utopia community, before turning to acrylic painting on canvas. Her early works are characterised by chromatic vibrations within a restrained palette. In the final years of her life, she underwent a radical stylistic shift towards powerful compositions of lines and an expanded palette.
Between 1988 and 1996, during an eight-year period of creation 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 pictorial language of remarkable richness, establishing herself as one of the major artistic figures of the 20th century.
Bringing together works from more than 25 lenders, including five Australian institutions, the exhibition highlights both the depth of her artistic journey and the evolution of her practice. It features batiks from her earliest artistic workshop in Utopia, alongside works representative of her entire career — including some shown at the Venice Biennale — attesting to the richness and diversity of her work.
