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The Calder Foundation works to preserve the integrity of the artist Alexander Calder’s life and work through exhibitions, publications, archives, and research.

10/15/2026

Marking 100 years since Calder first arrived in France, the Centre Pompidou and the Région Centre-Val de Loire have come together to organize Calder au cœur de la France, an event of exceptional scale. Fourteen venues across the region each reveal a different facet of his art, among them Domaine National de Chambord, where Calder's monumental standing mobile Horizontal can be seen. The exhibition is on view through 8 March 2027.

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/5n7xenrh

[Image: Horizontal (1974), Château de Chambord, 2026. Photograph by Tadzio. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]

10/14/2026

Calder’s "Red Panel" is newly installed in the Curve Gallery at Calder Gardens. On public view for the first time, the wall sculpture features three hanging elements in front of a painted plywood panel. Alexander S. C. Rower writes of Calder’s frames and panels, “Viewed head-on, these spirited sculptures appear to be paintings whose compositions flash form and color, blurring the line between fixedness and circumstance and activating a complex choreography of nonobjective forms."

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/37rpk35w

[Image: Red Panel (c. 1936), plywood, wood, sheet metal, rod, wire, string, and paint. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]

10/13/2026

In October 1930, accompanied by another American artist, William “Binks” Einstein, Calder visited Mondrian’s studio at 26 rue du Départ. Already familiar with Mondrian’s geometric abstractions, he was deeply impressed by the studio environment: “It was a very exciting room. Light came in from the left and from the right, and on the solid wall between the windows there were experimental stunts with colored rectangles of cardboard tacked on ... This one visit gave me a shock that started things. Though I had heard the word 'modern’ before, I did not consciously know or feel the term ‘abstract.’ So now, at thirty-two, I wanted to paint and work in the abstract. And for two weeks or so, I painted very modest abstractions. At the end of this, I reverted to plastic work which was still abstract.” Seen here is a selection of the nonobjective oil paintings Calder made.

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/2zf4uer3

[Images: All Untitled (1930), oil on canvas. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]

10/06/2026

Calder’s standing mobile Tree has been installed in the Small Gallery at Calder Gardens. In this remarkable work, a delicate mobile of wood, glass, mirror, and plastic is suspended from an eight-foot-high sheet metal base. Calder often incorporated everyday materials into his sculptures, and in a 1950s interview he reflected, “[A found object] only works if you find something as good as the shape you were about to invent.” One of the mobile’s hanging elements, a red plastic shard, comes from a shattered car taillight.

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/37rpk35w

[Image: Tree (1941), sheet metal, wood, glass, mirror, plastic, wire, string, and paint. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]

10/02/2026

Kiki de Montparnasse was born on this day in 1901. An iconic personality in 1920s Paris, the French polymath posed for many of the best-known artists of her day, including Calder, Cocteau, Picabia, Soutine, and her longtime companion, Man Ray. When Pathé produced a short film on Calder in his rue Cels studio in 1929, the artist invited Kiki to model for a wire portrait. Calder sculpted her likeness a second time the following year, seen here, which now belongs to the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris. Notably, about 1930, Calder also made Féminité, an abstraction of her visage.

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/5n6m25ey

[Image: Kiki de Montparnasse II (1930), Saché, 1963. Photograph by Ugo Mulas. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Ugo Mulas Heirs]

09/29/2026

Alexander Calder: Sculptures and Constructions opens on this day in 1943 at MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Originally scheduled to close on 28 November 1943, the exhibition—curated by James Johnson Sweeney and Marcel Duchamp—was extended to 16 January 1944 due to public demand. “The spirited panorama is there outspread, complete in that every aspect of his unique contribution is touched upon,” Edward Alden Jewell wrote in a review of the exhibition in The New York Times. “The matter of presentation is of peculiar importance. You cannot advantageously put a Calder just anywhere. The setting must be right if full effectiveness is to be achieved, whether in the home or in the gallery. It is a pleasure to report that at the Museum of Modern Art the installation of Calder’s retrospective show is stunning.”

Peek into the archives of this exhibition on our website: https://tinyurl.com/yc8mf2d4

[Images: Installation views, Alexander Calder: Sculptures and Constructions, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1943. Photograph 1 by Arnold Newman, photographs 2–4 by Soichi Sunami. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Arnold Newman; © Museum of Modern Art, Soichi Sunami]

09/28/2026

Carl Zigrosser and Erhard Weyhe were born on this day in 1891 and 1883, respectively. Together, the pair organized Calder’s first exhibition of wire sculpture in New York. In his autobiography, Calder recalled, “In February of 1928, I showed wire animals and people to Carl Zigrosser of the Weyhe Gallery and bookshop and he decided forthwith to give me a show. My first show. There were about fifteen objects and we priced these things at ten and twenty dollars. Two or three were sold.” Today, Calder’s wire portrait of Zigrosser is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and his portrait of Weyhe, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/3h7u298b

[Images: Carl Zigrosser (c. 1928); Erhard Weyhe (1928), wire. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]

09/24/2026

Join us for a rare opportunity to experience Earle Brown’s (1926–2002) “Calder Piece” (1963–1966), performed by the acclaimed ensemble “Les Percussions de Strasbourg” at the Fondation Beyeler. At the centre of this unique work is Alexander Calder’s (1898–1976) “Chef d’orchestre”, a standing mobile created especially for Brown’s composition. The mobile serves the four percussionists not only as a conductor, but also as an instrument. The work can only be performed together with Calder’s mobile, making each performance a unique occasion.

Experience “Calder Piece” on Saturday, 26 and Sunday, 27 September 2026, at 1 pm, 3 pm and 5 pm.
Duration: approx. 25 minutes

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/36txmcbs

[Photographs by Eduard Meltzer. Videos by . All works by Calder © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York] See less

09/23/2026

We are happy to share that Calder | O’Keeffe opens on 3 October at Hauser & Wirth, Palo Alto. This is the first exhibition devoted to the mutual admiration and artistic kinship between these two defining figures of American modernism. Through pairings of paintings, sculptures, jewelry, and archival materials, the presentation will invite visitors to contemplate congruities and contrasts in Calder's and O'Keeffe's revolutionary approach to abstraction, movement, and the dynamic forces that shape the natural world. Calder Foundation President Alexander S. C. Rower and Hauser & Wirth Senior Curatorial Director Alexis Lowry will lead a public walkthrough of the exhibition at 11:30am.

To register for the walkthrough: https://tinyurl.com/pwbj2jc6

[Image: The Flower (1944), bronze. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]

09/22/2026

Frederick Kiesler was born on this day in 1890. The Viennese-trained architect proved to be an important friend and connector for Calder during his early years in Paris. In 1930, Kiesler encouraged Calder to invite members of the new Parisian avant-garde to performances of Cirque Calder. “[Kiesler] was having a fling with my circus,” Calder recounts in his autobiography. “From previous years, Kiesler knew Fernand Léger, Karl Einstein, the critic, Le Corbusier, Mondrian, and van Doesburg. He gave me a list of whom to invite for the circus, so I invited them all.” Kiesler also introduced Calder to the French composer Edgard Varèse, who in turn became a frequent visitor to the artist’s studio.

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/2jpvhrer

[Image: Calder with Cirque Calder (1926–31). Photograph by André Kertész. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Ministère de la Culture / Médiathèque de Patrimoine, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / André Kertész]

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