Henry Taylor's 'Where Thoughts Provoke' at Musée Picasso in Paris

Henry Taylor's exhibition 'Where Thoughts Provoke' is on view at the Musée Picasso in Paris. The show features works like 'Who Knew I Would Paint You Blue' (2025), which subtly references Picasso's Blue Period through a portrait of Taylor's partner with blue skin and surroundings. 'Screaming Head' (1990) presents a face with an exaggerated mouth, where emotion becomes formal structure. 'Cora (cornbread)' (2008) hides his mother's name in the word 'cornbread' and includes Br'er Rabbit molasses, referencing racial stereotypes in consumer culture. A painting of Martin Luther King Jr. shows him playing baseball, humanizing the historical figure. 'The Times Thay Aint A Changing, Fast Enough!' (2017) depicts Philando Castile after being shot by police, with no blood but the victim's eye staring at the viewer. A large triptych originally created for the 2019 Venice Biennale's 'May You Live in Interesting Times' spans from the Haitian Revolution to racial violence in the US. Taylor resists being labeled a political painter, and the exhibition avoids easy political messaging, instead presenting fragments of intimacy, memory, and social reality. The show runs at the Musée Picasso in Paris.