HANS HOFMANN

Miles McEnery Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings and palettes by Hans Hofmann on view 2 April through 9 May 2026 at 520 West 21st Street. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated publication featuring an essay by Michèle Wije. Hans Hofmann is a central figure of twentieth-century abstraction, his legacy shaped as profoundly by his pedagogical influence as by his vibrant canvases. This exhibition surveys a range of both intimate studies and major canvases, offering insight into the breadth of his formal experimentation. The selection of paintings and palettes on view reveal Hofmann's painterly energy as both constructed and intuitive. His practice negotiates a dynamic interplay between lived experience and imaginative invention. Hofmann himself emphasized the primacy of intuition in this process, asserting that "a picture should be made with feeling, not with knowing." Wije further situates Hofmann's work within an experiential framework, observing "We do not just see these paintings; we experience them. They represent direct spiritual and emotional communication from artist to viewer through form and color."