Sarah Morris

Sarah Morris was born in 1967 in Sevenoaks, United Kingdom and now lives and works in New York. Since the mid-1990s she has reinvigorated painting with her abstracted geometric snapshots of urban environments. Often working in distinct series that are created in conjunction with a film, she has explored the psychological typologies of Midtown Manhattan, Las Vegas, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Abu Dhabi, and Osaka, among others.

Morris studied at Brown University and Cambridge University, and was a participant in the Whitney Independent Study Program. She received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painting Award in 2001 and in 1999-2000 was an American Academy Award Berlin Prize Fellow.

In 2024, Morris’s new film ETC premiered on the façade of M+ and was screened nightly for two months. Jointly commissioned by M+ and Tai Kwun Contemporary, the ode to Hong Kong was subsequently featured in a Morris exhibition at the latter institution. In 2023, the Deichtorhallen Hamburg opened All Systems Fail, a major retrospective of Morris’s work. The exhibition traveled to the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany; Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, and continues to Kunstmuseum Stuttgart in September 2024.

Other major Morris solo exhibitions have taken place at the Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; LUMA Foundation, Zurich; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; UCCA, Beijing; and Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, among others.

Morris has participated in the Baltic Triennial, Vilnius; Bienal de São Paulo; Busan Biennale; Liverpool Biennial; and Tate Triennial, London. Her films have been screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles; Anthology Film Archive, New York; International Film Festival Rotterdam; Kino International, Berlin; Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland; and Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, among others.

Her work is included in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Government Art Collection, London; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Istanbul Museum of Modern Art; Jumex Collection, Mexico City; Kunsthaus Zürich; LUMA Foundation, Zurich & Arles, France; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Buenos Aires; Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Pérez Art Museum Miami; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Schaulager, Basel; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Tate Collection, London; and Victoria and Albert Museum, London, among others.

Installation view, Sarah Morris, All Systems Fail, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern

What’s the dynamic between the films and the paintings? All I can tell you is it’s always all going on at the same time. I don’t know if you can make a linear, causal connection, but there is obviously a link. There are linguistic connections between the titles. There are connections in terms of color and composition. And rhythm too—all of the films have this sort of relentless quality to them that’s slightly hypnotic. You can even look at the films as a study. On the other hand, sometimes we’ll do research for paintings and compositions for paintings, and it will lead me to a very specific space. The conversation goes both ways.

Sarah Morris in conversation with Taylor Dafoe, artnet news, 2019

Career Highlights

Installation view, Robert Towne, Lever House, 2006

1967 Born in the United Kingdom

1989 Graduates from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts

1989-1990 participates in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study program

1992 Morris has her first solo exhibition Citizens at Kunsthalle in New York

1998 First institutional show at Le Consortium in Dijon

Creates her first film Midtown

1999 Inaugural show with Petzel Gallery in New York

2000 Morris mounts major solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Zurich in Switzerland

2001 Awarded the Joan Mitchell Painting Award

2002 All of Morris’ films to date are shown at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC

2005 A solo exhibition is mounted of Morris’ Los Angeles series at Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover

2006 Morris installs the site-specific work Robert Towne at the Lever House in New York

Installation view, The Odysseus Factor, UCCA, Beijing, 2018

2008 Morris installs the mural Black Beetle at the Fondation Beyler and exhibits paintings from her “Capital” and “Rings” series

2009 Museum fur Moderne Kunst hosts a comprehensive solo exhibition of Morris’ work titled Gemini Dressage. The exhibition included the debut of her film, Beijing, in Europe.

2012 Points on a Line debuts at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio

2013 Morris has three exhibitions premiering her “Rio” series at White Cube in London, Petzel Gallery in New York, and Kunsthalle Bremen in Germany.

2016 Museum Leuven hosts a major exhibition of Morris’ work in Belgium.

2018 Morris has her first institutional exhibition in China at the UCCA in Beijing.

2019 Debuts her 15th movie Sakura at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan

2020 Awarded the Aurelie Nemours Prize

2023 Institutional exhibitions at Deichtorhallen Hamburg and Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka

2024 Solo exhibitions at museums traveled to Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany; Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern; and Kunstmuseum Stuttgart

2025 Forthcoming exhibition at Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan

Complete CV

Works in Private and Public Collections

Works in Private and Public Collections Thumbnails

Lippo [Paul Rudolph], 2024
Household gloss mural

Installation view, 2024
Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong

Detector [Spiderweb], 2024
Household gloss mural

Installation view, 2024
Private Residence, Switzerland

Tracker [Spiderweb], 2023
Household gloss mural

Installation view, 2023
Espace Louis Vuitton Munich

Banco Aliança [Rio], 2013

Household gloss paint on canvas

84.25 x 84.25 inches (214 x 214 cm)

Fondation Beyeler, Basel

War of Roses [Sound Graph], 2019

Household gloss paint on canvas (triptych)

113.78 x 341.34 inches (289 x 867 cm)

Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar

Small Doublesheet Bend [Knots], 2010
Household gloss on canvas
48 1/16 × 48 1/16 inches (122 × 122 cm)

Albertina Museum, Vienna

1952 [Rings], 2006

Household gloss paint on canvas

84 1/4 x 84 1/4 inches (214 x 214 cm)

Palm Springs Art Museum, California

The Endeavor [Los Angeles], 2005

Household gloss on canvas

84.25 x 84.25 inches (214 x 214 cm)

Dallas Museum of Art

Creative Artists Agency [Los Angeles], 2005

Household gloss on canvas

84.25 x 84.25 inches (214 x 214 cm)

Museum of Modern Art, New York

Pools - Coco walk [Miami], 2003

Household gloss on canvas

113.78 x 113.78 inches (289 x 289 cm)

Buffalo AKG Museum, Buffalo, New York

The Mall [Capital], 2001

Household gloss paint on canvas

84 x 84 inches (214 x 214 cm)

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Rio (with Palms) [Las Vegas], 1999

Household gloss paint on canvas

84.25 x 84.25 inches (214 x 214 cm)

Fundación Jumex, Mexico City

Mandalay Bay [Las Vegas], 1999

Household gloss on canvas

84 x 84 inches (213.4 x 213.4 cm)

Guggenheim Museum, New York

Rio (with Palms) [Las Vegas], 1999

Household gloss paint on canvas

84.25 x 84.25 inches (214 x 214 cm)

Tate Modern, London

Midtown Seagram with Flourescents, 1999
Household gloss on canvas
48 1/16 × 48 1/16 inches (122 × 122 cm)

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.