“A New Spirit in Painting” opened at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1981. Curated by Christos Joachimides, Norman Rosenthal, and Nicholas Serota, the exhibition assembled German Neo-Expressionists (Baselitz, Lüpertz, Penck, Immendorff, Kiefer), Italian Transavanguardia painters (Cucchi, Chia, Clemente, Paladino), and American Neo-Expressionists (Schnabel, Salle, Fischl) alongside established figures like de Kooning, Bacon, and Warhol. It is widely recognized as the moment of international canonization — the exhibition that declared a “return to painting” as a generational movement across three continents.
The catalogue and press coverage established the critical terms through which Neo-Expressionism would be received internationally. Joachimides and Rosenthal’s framing — a spiritual renewal, a recovery of painting’s essential powers — was attacked by October critics as naïve and politically irresponsible. The exhibition’s success in attendance and sales contradicted the critical dismissal without answering it.
See also
- Zeitgeist — the German companion exhibition, 1982
- Documenta 7 — the institutional ratification, 1982