The new exhibition at the Reinhard Ernst Museum (MRE) shows how three contemporary artists engage with Helen Frankenthaler. Jenny Brosinski (born 1984), Ina Gerken (born 1987) and Adrian Schiess (*1959) have selected some of Frankenthaler's previously unseen works from the Reinhard Ernst Collection and staged a joint exhibition with their own works. The show invites visitors to experience the fascinating effect of this pioneering painter in dialogue with three outstanding contemporary abstract positions.
Wiesbaden, 23 October 2025 – Three contemporary artists – Jenny Brosinski (born 1984), Ina Gerken (born 1987) and Adrian Schiess (born 1959) – engage with thirteen works by Helen Frankenthaler from the Reinhard Ernst Collection, seven of which have not yet been shown at the MRE. "The exhibition 'Helen Frankenthaler moves Jenny Brosinski, Ina Gerken, Adrian Schiess' impressively demonstrates that Frankenthaler's painterly diversity and pioneering spirit continue to inspire today. In this way, we tell a story that begins with her and is independently expanded and confidently continued by the three artists,’"says Dr Oliver Kornhoff, director of the Reinhard Ernst Museum.
This extraordinary exhibition experience once again provides an insight into the world's largest private collection of Frankenthaler's works and at the same time opens up a wide range of encounters with contemporary abstract painting from Germany and Switzerland. The artists themselves selected the works in order to illustrate strong formal references, thematic connections or direct comparisons with their own art in dialogue with Frankenthaler. In doing so, engaging with Frankenthaler is both a challenge and a confirmation of their own work, or a conceptual basis for new artistic perspectives.
Each of the three artists occupies one room. The central exhibition area of this presentation is Room 3 – the highest room in the museum with a ceiling height of 14 metres – in which all four positions come together.
