Tate Liverpool reveals its 2018 exhibitions
Austrian figurative painter Egon Schiele will be the subject of Tate Liverpool's summer blockbuster exhibition in 2018.
Visitors to the Albert Dock gallery, which celebrates its 30th anniversary next year, will be able to see rarely-exhibited drawings by the artist to mark the centenary of his death.
Schiele fell victim to the Spanish Flu in 1918 at the age of 28, dying three days after his pregnant wife.
The show, which opens on May 24, follows prevoius major summer exhibitions around the work of famous artists like Picasso, Monet, Mondrian, Magritte, and Klimt - Schiele was a protege of the fellow Austrian.
In addition, during summer 2018 the Tate will also play a central role in the 10th edition of the Liverpool Biennial, as well as the 10th anniversary celebrations for Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture.
Meanwhile more than 50 works, many rarely seen in the UK, by French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker Fernand Léger will go on show next autumn in a retrospective at the gallery.
Léger was a key figure of international modernity regarded as a forerunner of pop art. In addition to iconic paintings, the show will include important films such as Ballet Mécanique 1924.
The work will be paired with a significant exhibition of paintings by the Iraqi artist Dia Al-Azzawi.
Egon Schiele is at Tate Liverpool from May 24 to September 23 2018.
The Biennial exhibition runs from July 14 to October 28, and Fernand Léger opens on November 23, until March 2019.
Tate Liverpool artistic director Francesco Manacorda said: “Next year marks a very important set of anniversaries for Tate Liverpool; our gallery will be 30 and 10 years will have passed since the 2008 Capital of Culture.
"It's important for us to celebrate these two moments that have been hugely transformative for the city with a programme that includes Egon Schiele – designed for us to remember the success of Klimt in 08 – Fernand Leger and many more surprises which, we hope, will bring Tate closer and closer to Liverpool, its communities and its history.”
Tate image © Tate Liverpool, Rachel Ryan Photography
Egon Schiele: Self-portrait in profile facing right 1914. Image courtesy Peter Schälchli, Zürich