Americas Society to Present the First Institutional Survey of Fanny Sanín in New York

New York, May 29, 2025 — Opening at Americas Society on June 4, 2025, the exhibition, Fanny Sanín: Geometric Equations, will highlight Sanín’s important contributions to the development of abstract art in both Latin America and the United States. 

Featuring colossal acrylic paintings, intimate smaller compositions, and insightful pencil studies, the exhibition will guide visitors through the evolution of the artist's geometric explorations, highlighting the subtle transformations in Sanín’s use of color and form. On view until July 26, 2025 and curated by Dr. Edward J. Sullivan, the show is the first institutional survey exhibition in New York of the acclaimed Colombian-born and New York-based artist.

“The works on view—from preliminary small studies to final, often monumental, finished products—trace her evolution from gesture to hard-edged nonobjectivity while providing a window into the nature of her complex process,” said Sullivan, who is the Helen Gould Shepard professor in the History of Art at New York University. 

The show is part of a mission to preserve Sanín’s work and make it available for future generations. “We are proud at Americas Society to contribute toward that goal with the hopes that this exhibition is the first of many solo shows exploring the richness of Sanín’s expansive career,” says Americas Society’s Director and Chief Curator of Art Aimé Iglesias Lukin. 

Born in Bogotá in 1938, Sanín's professional career illustrates a continuous development from initial expressionistic art to her signature geometric works. Sanín studied fine art at the University of the Andes in Bogotá, and later, at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and the Chelsea School of Art, London. She then moved to Monterrey, Mexico, where she had her first solo exhibition in 1964. By the time she relocated permanently to Manhattan in 1971, Sanín had already begun advancing her own mode of depicting complex hard-edged geometric forms with interweaving lines and complementary or contrasting colors.

This dedication to geometric abstraction has positioned Sanín as a key figure within several generations of pioneering Latin American women abstractionists. 

In the exhibition’s catalogue, Ana María Reyes, associate professor of Latin American Art History at Boston University, writes that Sanín’s paintings “inspire spiritual and emotional respite during these times of uncertainty.” 

According to Reyes, Sanín’s carefully constructed compositions provide “a meditative experience, reinforcing the timeless human pursuit of order and harmony.” In Acrylic No.1, 2021 (top of page), diagonal lines and red tones dominate, reinforcing an aspiration toward transcendence and spiritual elevation, explains Reyes. She continues: “Sanín juxtaposes dark colors with vibrant tones in order to generate energy."

The painter's rigorous working methods are shown in the exhibition through the display of preparatory sketches, and they are further contextualized by Eric Marciano's film about Sanín’s career, Fanny Sanín The Critic's Eye: Reflections on Pure Abstraction, which highlights key archival materials. Carlos Motta has contributed his expertise as the exhibition designer. Sullivan, the curator, and Motta are members of the Fanny Sanín Legacy Project, an initiative dedicated to the promotion and long-term accessibility of her artistic contributions. 

The exhibition is part of Art at Americas Society’s Women Artists Series, dedicated to important yet under-recognized women artists from Latin America. The series began in 2022 with an exhibition of Mexican sculptor Geles Cabrera. It continued in 2023 with a show on Chilean interdisciplinary artist Sylvia Palacios Whitman and in 2024 with a mid-career survey of Argentine artist Alejandra Seeber.

To accompany the show, Americas Society will present a public program and publish a catalogue.

On June 26 and June 27, 2025, Americas Society will host a two-day symposium, in collaboration with the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU, examining the contributions of women to postwar abstraction across the Americas.

Press contact: mediarelations@as-coa.org

Funders

The presentation of Fanny Sanín: Geometric Equations and related programming is made possible by generous support from the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, Wyeth Foundation for American Art, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Erica Roberts, Karla Harwich, Lilly Scarpetta, and Ana Sokoloff. In-kind support is provided by Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino. 

Americas Society acknowledges the generous support from the Arts of the Americas Circle members: Amalia Amoedo, Estrellita B. Brodsky, Virginia Cowles Schroth, Emily Engel, Isabella Hutchinson, Carolina Jannicelli, Diana López and Herman Sifontes, Elena Matsuura, Maggie Miqueo, Antonio Murzi, Gabriela Pérez Rocchietti, Marco Pappalardo and Cintya Poletti Pappalardo, Carolina Pinciroli, Erica Roberts, Sharon Schultz, and Edward J. Sullivan.