Image: Fondation Opale, Lens
Fondation Opale is presenting a major monographic exhibition of Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray, bringing together more than 80 works in what the institution describes as the most comprehensive European retrospective dedicated to her practice. The exhibition runs from 14 June to 8 November 2026 at Fondation Opale in Lens, Switzerland, and coincides with the 30th anniversary of Kngwarray’s passing.
Organised in close collaboration with Tate Modern and the National Gallery of Australia, the exhibition draws loans from more than 25 lenders, including five Australian institutions. Its scope is intended to follow the development of Kngwarray’s practice across the brief but exceptionally prolific period in which she became internationally recognised.
Kngwarray was born in the Sandover region of Australia’s Northern Territory and 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. Fondation Opale describes her early works as marked by chromatic vibrations and a restrained palette, while her later paintings move towards powerful linear compositions and a more expansive use of colour.
Between 1988 and 1996, Kngwarray produced more than 3,000 works, developing what the foundation characterises as a rich and distinctive pictorial language. The exhibition brings together batiks from her earliest artistic workshop in Utopia alongside works representing the full arc of her career, including paintings that have been shown at the Venice Biennale.
The presentation places Kngwarray’s paintings within the context of her rapid artistic evolution rather than treating her output as a single, uniform style. The progression from early batik works to the increasingly energetic acrylic paintings of her final years forms a central thread of the exhibition, which presents the artist as one of the major figures of 20th-century contemporary art.
Fondation Opale, an institution with a programme focused on contemporary art, is located at Route de Crans 1 in Lens. The exhibition is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, throughout its scheduled run from 14 June through 8 November 2026.
