Until March 7, art enthusiasts in Paris can add Sarah Grilo: Paris – Madrid to their must-see list. On view at Galerie Lelong, the exhibition highlights works from the 1970s and 1980s, a period when Sarah Grilo (1917–2007) split her time between Paris and the Spanish cities of Madrid and Marbella.
Bien y mal © The Estate of Sarah Grilo / Courtesy Galerie Lelong
Born in Buenos Aires, Grilo has gained growing recognition on the international art scene, with works held in major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Influenced by Cubism in the 1950s, she joined the Artistas Modernos de la Argentina collective, developing a distinctive geometric abstraction that marked her artistic evolution. Works associated with the group were shown at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro.
Sans titre © The Estate of Sarah Grilo / Courtesy Galerie Lelong
Grilo’s move to New York in 1962 on a Guggenheim Fellowship marked a turning point that shaped her subsequent practice. From the 1970s onward, her work increasingly explored mathematical ideas through fragmentation and ordered systems. She frequently referenced the principle “El orden de los factores no altera el producto” — the order of the factors does not alter the product — a concept that became central to several series and titles, including her painting Desorden de los factores.
Grilo’s work is represented in important public collections, including the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and is currently on view at the Miró Foundation in Barcelona. A major retrospective of her work is planned later this year at the Juan March Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, further consolidating her place in 20th-century abstraction.