The Broad Robert Therrien
Robert Therrien: This is a Story opens at the Broad DTLA on November 22, 2025. This is the largest museum exhibition of the artist’s work. It will remain on view through April 5, 2026.
The solo exhibition features 120 pieces created across five decades. Therrien transformed everyday objects into imaginative, monumental forms. His sculptures include massive tables, towering chairs, and surreal stacks of dishes that the viewers can actually walk under. Many of the works, including some completed just before his death in 2019. For the past 30 years, he has created his art in his downtown LA studio since 1990. Some of the artworks have never appeared in a museum setting. Therefore this exhibition offers a rare chance to view so much of his work in one place. It is also a journey that Therrien takes us on via his exploration of scale, memory, and perception.
Robert Therrien
Born in Chicago in 1947, the artist moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s. He studied at the University of Southern California and remained in the city for decades. There, he built a singular body of work that balanced formal simplicity with poetic reinvention. Even amid the rise of minimalism and conceptual art, he carved out a style uniquely his own.
His downtown L.A. studio played a key role in shaping his ideas about size and structure. The exhibition, developed with the artist’s estate, includes elements of that studio. Project tables, drawings, tools, and room reconstructions offer rare insight into Therrien’s working process.
Robert Therrien, No title (folding table and chairs, dark brown), 2007. Painted steel and aluminum, fabric, and plastic. Courtesy of Glenstone Museum. Photo by Joshua White/JWPictures.com
In addition to being the largest solo museum presentation of his work to date, Robert Therrien: This is a Story places his legacy within the broader arc of contemporary sculpture in Los Angeles and beyond. An exhibition catalog published by DelMonico Books will develop these connections further, edited by curator Ed Schad and featuring texts by Kathryn Scanlon, Richard Armstrong, and Darby English, as well as reflections from Vija Celmins, Vicky Arnold, Jacob Samuel, Christina Forrer and more.
More Info
Tickets to Robert Therrien: This is a Story will become available in Aug/Sept 2025 at thebroad.org. A full slate of associated programming with additional details will be announced in the coming months.
On view: November 22, 2025 – April 5, 2026
What: Robert Therrien: This is a Story
Where: The Broad, 221 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
When: Check the website for available times
Website: https://thebroad.org/
