Felix Gonzalez-Torres American, born Cuba, 1957-1996
About this artwork
Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s work is consistently characterized by a sense of quiet elegy. One of the defining moments in his widely influential career, “Untitled” can be considered a self-portrait in the form of words and dates. First realized in 1989, the work expanded with subsequent installations until the artist’s premature death in 1996, and can continue to shift in ongoing manifestations. The portrait joins historical events and enigmatic personal milestones into a running text placed close to the ceiling. Such an installation is reminiscent of traditional friezes carved on the faces of public architecture, including the facade of the Art Institute’s 1893 Allerton Building, which includes artists’ names chiseled into a horizontal band. By offering clues to a personal history in a commemorative form normally dedicated to institutional use, Gonzalez-Torres undercuts the public and official in favor of the private and subjective, reminding us that an individual’s identity is not always reducible to an image captured on canvas or etched in marble. “Untitled” can change each time it is installed and may be presented in an infinite variety of ways. Its owner is obliged to consider adding (or subtracting) events, including ones subsequent to the artist’s death, ensuring that it remains relevant and dynamic.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
The Art Institute of Chicago, bequest of Carolyn Spiegel; Watson F. Blair Prize, Muriel Kallis Newman, Sara Szold and Modern and Contemporary Discretionary funds; Samuel and Sarah Deson and Oscar L. Gerber Memorial endowments; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee Fund Purchase: gift of Jean and James E. Douglas Jr., Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein, Collectors Forum, Doris and Don Fisher, Niko and Steve Mayer, Elaine McKeon, and Danielle and Brooks Walker Jr.
James Rondeau, “Untitled,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 29, 2 (2003), pp. 86-87 (color ill.).
Elina Kountouri, with Donstantinos A. Papagerogiou, Maria D. Efthymiou, Maria Vlasopoulou, Peggy Dara, Kanis Kafantaris, Elli Droilia, and Elli Droulia, Portals, exh. cat. (Athens: NEON Foundation, 2021), 30, 92-95 color ills.), 288, 289 (color ill.), 393.
Rui Mateus Amaral, curator, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Summer, exh. brochure (Toronto: Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2022), n.p.
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Untitled. An Installation by Felix Gonzalez-Torres as Part of the Visual AIDS Program, Dec. 1, 1989–Jan. 1, 1989, artist’s statement, no cat.
Vancouver, University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery, Strange Ways, Here We Come: Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Donald Moffett, Nov. 16–Dec. 10, 1990, no cat no.
Lyon, Espace Lyonnais d’Art Contemporain, Here’s Looking at Me/À mes beaux yeux: Autoportraits contemporains, Jan. 29–Apr. 30, 1993, no cat no.
Aspen, Tavelli Gallery, Group Show, July 15–Aug. 7, 1993, no cat.
Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Traveling, Apr. 24–June 19, 1994, not in cat; Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, June 16–Sept. 11, 1994; Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Sept. 25–Nov. 6, 1994 (Washington D.C. only).
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Mar. 3–May 10, 1995, not in cat; Santiago de Compostela, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: A Possible Landscape, Dec. 12, 1995–Mar. 3, 1996; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Girlfriend in a Coma, Apr. 11–June 16, 1996, (Santiago de Compostela and Paris only).
Hannover, Sprengel Museum, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, June 1-Aug. 24, 1997, cat. 70, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Sept. 6-Nov. 16, 1997; Vienna, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Sept. 12-Nov. 1, 1998 (St. Gallen only).
Casino Luxembourg, Forum d’art Contemporain, Manifesta 2: European Biennial of Contemporary Art, June 28–Oct. 11, 1998, not in cat.
Vienna, Kunsthalle Wien, Cuba: Maps of Desire, Mar. 19–May 30, 1999, no cat. no.; Kunstraum Innsbruck, June 9–Sept. 18, 1999; Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, June 18–Aug. 15, 1999.
Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum, International Currents in Contemporary Art, July 24, 1999–Jan. 9, 2000, no cat.
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie International 1999/2000, Nov. 6, 1999–Mar. 26, 2000, no cat. no.
London, Serpentine Gallery, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, June 1–July 16, 2000, no cat no.
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Versiones del Sur: No es sólo lo que ves: pervirtiendo el minimalismo, Dec. 12, 2000–Feb. 19, 2001, no cat no.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Points of Departure II: Connecting with Contemporary Art, Nov. 17, 2001–June 9, 2002, no cat.
Dijon, Le Consortium, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Nov. 21, 2001–Feb. 2, 2002, no cat.
Art Institute of Chicago, Collection Rotation, June 2003–Apr. 2008, no cat.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Between Art and Life: The Contemporary Painting and Sculpture Collection, July 1, 2004–January 21, 2007, no cat.
Bristol, Arnolfini, This Storm Is What We Call Progress, Sept. 10-Oct. 23, 2005, no cat no.
Berlin, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Oct. 1, 2006–Jan. 9, 2007, no cat no.
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Somewhere/Nowhere, Sept. 5–Nov. 3, 2008, no cat no.; Mexico City, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporaneo, Feb. 27–May 30, 2010, no cat no.
Art Institute of Chicago, Inaugural Installation of the Modern Wing, May 15¬, 2009–July 2011, no cat.
New York, FLAG Art Foundation, Floating a Boulder: Works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Jim Hodges, Oct. 1, 2009–Jan. 31, 2010, no cat no.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 75 Years of Looking Forward: The Anniversary Show, Dec. 16, 2009–Jan. 19, 2011, not in cat.
Brussels, WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Specific Objects without Specific Form, Jan.16–Apr. 25, 2010, extended to May 2, 2010 (curated by Elena Filipovic, Jan. 16–Feb. 28, 2010, reinstalled by guest artist curator Dahn Vo, Mar. 5–May2, 2010), cat. forthcoming; Riehen, Fondation Beyeler, May 22 to Aug. 29, 2010 (curated by Elena Filipovic, May 22–July 25, 2010, reinstalled by guest artist curator Carol Bove, July 29–Aug. 29, 2010); Frankfurt, Museum Für Moderne Kunst, Jan. 29–Apr. 25, 2011 (curated by Elena Filipovic, Jan. 29–Mar. 14, 2011, reinstalled by guest artist curator Tino Sehgal, Mar. 18–Apr. 25, 2011).
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Every Artist is a Human Being!: Positions in Self-Portraiture, Sept. 11–Nov. 21, 2010, extended to Jan. 9, 2011, no cat no.
Art Institute of Chicago, Inaugural Installation of the Modern Wing, July 21, 2011–Mar. 8, 2015, no cat.
Seoul, PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Double, June 21–Sept. 28, 2012, no cat. no.
Margate, Turner Contemporary, Self: Image and Identity-self-portraiture from Van Dyck to Louise Bourgeois, Jan. 24–May 10, 2015, no cat.
Art Institute of Chicago, The New Contemporary, Dec. 13, 2015–on going.
New York, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, May 3–June 18, 2016, no cat. no.; Milan, Massimo De Carlo, May 21–July 20, 2016; London, Hauser & Wirth, May 27–July 30, 2016 (New York only).
Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, 1989: the End of the 20th Century, Jan. 24–May 19, 2019, not in cat.
Athens, former Public Tobacco Factory, Portals, June 11–Dec. 31, 2021, no cat. no.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Summer, Mar. 10–May 29, 2022 (preview Mar. 9), no cat. no.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Winter, June 1–July 31, 2022, no cat. no.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Afterimages: Echoes of the 1960s from the Fisher and SFMOMA Collections, Oct. 15, 2022–Ongoing, no cat.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
