Rose Wylie: Henri, Egypt...Bette, Bear

David Zwirner is pleased to announce Henri, Egypt...Bette, Bear, an exhibition of new and recent canvases, multipanel works, and works on paper by British artist Rose Wylie at the gallery’s location in Paris. Marking Wylie’s eighth solo show with the gallery and her first ever in Paris, Henri, Egypt...Bette, Bear coincides with her largest ever survey exhibition in the United Kingdom, currently on view at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, until 19 April 2026. Explore Explore All Works View Checklist Henri, Egypt…Bette, Bear is the first ever solo presentation of Wylie’s work in Paris, a city she has frequently traveled to since she was a young woman. For this exhibition, she turns to her long-held appreciation for the visionary French post-impressionist artist Henri Rousseau (1844–1910), whose original, oneiric compositions traverse the personal, the public, and the fantastical—much like Wylie’s. Rose Wylie Homage to Henri, Bette and Bear , 2026 Oil on canvas 73 x 59 7/8 inches (185.4 x 152 cm) Inquire The punchy, rhythmic title is taken from Wylie’s painting Homage to Henri, Bette and Bear (2026), honoring Rousseau’s 1899–1901 work Unpleasant Surprise (Mauvaise surprise; Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia), which centers a nude woman with flowing locks, a mysterious sniper, and a growling bear with sharp claws. In Wylie’s Homage, she considers the homonyms “bare” and “bear,” recasting the original nude as the American actress Bette Davis, here clothed modestly in a pinafore, and amplifies the talons of the animal, based on an image she had seen on television of a bear in captivity. Henri Rousseau, Unpleasant Surprise (Mauvaise surprise) , 1899-1901 (detail) Rose Wylie, Homage to Henri, Bette and Bear , 2026 (detail) Installation view, Rose Wylie: Henri, Egypt...Bette, Bear , David Zwirner, Paris, 2026 Wylie has become known for her uniquely recognisable, colourful, and exuberant compositions that appear aesthetically candid, not seeming to align with any discernible style or movement, but on closer inspection are revealed to be wittily observed and subtly sophisticated meditations on the nature of visual representation itself. In February of 2026, The Royal Academy of Arts presented Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First , Wylie’s largest exhibition of the new and previously unseen paintings to date. Critic Alastair Sooke writes “On a simple level, she celebrates everyday pleasures: the satisfying appearance of berries on a bowl of porridge, or, as one title puts it, a 'well-cooked omelette' [...] Yet, a seemingly childlike method belies considerable sophistication and complexity. Wylie is erudite; her work contains art-historical references galore. She addresses difficult topics, principally misogyny, with subtle, cunning wit.” Installation view, Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2026 Installation view, Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2026 Installation view, Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2026 Installation view, Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2026 “[Wylie’s] paintings exemplify the artist’s ability to absorb powerful impressions from her immediate surroundings. They also illustrate her broad knowledge of cultural production, spanning popular and cliche styles as well as underexamined and non-Western visual traditions.” —Tanja Boon, Curator Rose Wylie Umber Dots , 2025 Oil on canvas Diptych Overall: 72 x 118 1/8 inches (183 x 300 cm) Inquire Rose Wylie in her studio, 2026. Photo by Fatima Khan “I don’t mind being called a rebel – it’s better than being called stuck in the mud. I am both playful and deeply serious at the same time – and I don’t know how that goes together.” —Rose Wylie, interview with AnOther Magazine , 2026 Rose Wylie Ballet Backdrop , 2024 Oil on canvas in (4) four parts Overall: 144 1/8 x 119 3/4 inches (366 x 304 cm) Inquire Rose Wylie, Ballet Backdrop , 2024 (detail) “In my painting it’s not the subject matter that needs to be known about – that doesn’t matter. It is more the objects/things/persons that need to be recognised, felt and understood: trees as trees, a skirt as a skirt, and the quality of how it’s done.” —Rose Wylie in Frieze Magazine , 2013 Installation view, Rose Wylie: Henri, Egypt...Bette, Bear , David Zwirner, Paris, 2026 Charting Wylie’s continued mediation and assimilation of publicly circulated imagery, the new paintings also incorporate aspects of art history as well as fleeting impressions from her domestic life. Across several works, the artist renders compositions inspired by an ancient Turkish mosaic whose discovery was reported on in broadcast news in 2016. Wylie features figures—skeletal, a man reaching for the moon—alongside motifs such as an empty Egyptian-style chair and a damaged triangular piece of the mosaic. The color palette of ochres, umbers, and rusty reds recalls that of Fra Angelico’s frescoes—“not overwhelming, not strident,” in Wylie’s words. Rose Wylie Black Skeleton , 2025 Oil on canvas 72 x 59 5/8 inches (183 x 151.5 cm) Inquire Rose Wylie, Black Skeleton , 2025 (detail) Wylie moves closer to home in the diptych The House Next Door , Or, Jumbo Meat Cleaver (2025). In the right panel, she depicts the house next door to hers, which she was able to see for the first time when her neighbor removed the bushes and shrubs between their gardens to repair a conjoining fence. Together, in movement, the two canvases create an object painting of the titular “meat cleaver,” the fence becoming the handle of the instrument. Rose Wylie The House Next Door, Or, Jumbo Meat Cleaver , 2025 Oil on canvas Overall: 75 5/8 x 129 7/8 inches (192 x 330 cm) Inquire Rose Wylie Study for The House Next Door , 2025 Colored pencil, felt pen, pen, pencil, and collage on paper 3 x 6 1/4 inches (7.7 x 15.8 cm) Framed: 9 1/4 x 12 5/8 inches (23.5 x 32 cm) Inquire Installation view, Rose Wylie: Henri, Egypt...Bette, Bear , David Zwirner, Paris, 2026 Also on view is a selection of works on paper and older paintings that chart the development of Wylie’s recurring images and compositional style. Manor (2004) takes as its source an image from a national newspaper. In this painting, Wylie extends the bounds of the original picture’s format to create more space for the bathers—characters in a computer game—who are surrounded by a bright, pale blue-green reminiscent of the waters of a swimming pool. Rose Wylie Manor , 2004 Oil on canvas 68 1/4 x 74 1/4 inches (173.5 x 188.5 cm) Inquire Rose Wylie, Manor , 2004 (detail) “The painting should be – that’s why I don’t care about the story. The story is something the painting has, but the main thing is that the painting becomes a being, [...] it becomes an entity. You can’t add anything to it or take anything away, it has substance.” —Rose Wylie in an interview with Vogue , 2025 Installation view, Rose Wylie: Henri, Egypt...Bette, Bear , David Zwirner, Paris, 2026 Inquire about works by Rose Wylie Get in Touch Inquire David Zwirner Logo Want to Know More? Join our mailing list to be among the first to receive gallery news. Email * Submit By sharing your details you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions , and will receive gallery newsletters. David Zwirner - All rights reserved 2026 Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy Facebook Icon Instagram Icon YouTube Icon Wechat Icon