What Does Sigmar Polke Still Have to Teach Us?

Curator Mark Godfrey and painter Emma McIntyre discuss the importance of Sigmar Polke—skeptic, trickster, and visionary—on the occasion of Sigmar Polke: The Knowledge of Colours, a solo exhibition at the De Pont Museum in Tilburg, Netherlands, part of Sigmar Polke: Athanor NOW, a project by the Anna Polke Foundation. Polke is widely recognized as one of the most innovative painters and multidisciplinary artists of the postwar era, and the exhibition is on view through February 28 of next year.

Emma McIntyre creates vivid abstractions imbued with chromatic and gestural energy. Her third solo exhibition with David Zwirner, This body holds / swamp stuff, is now on view at David Zwirner Tribeca through October 24, 2026.

Mark Godfrey is the curator of Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, now on view at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. He is codirector of New Curators, a one-year curatorial training program for international curators from structurally disadvantaged backgrounds. He was senior curator of international art at Tate Modern from 2007 to 2021.

Learn more about Emma McIntyre’s exhibition at David Zwirner Tribeca: https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2026/emma-mcintyre

Learn more about Sigmar Polke: The Knowledge of Colours at the De Pont Museum: https://www.depont.nl/en/exhibitions/sigmar-polke-3

Learn more about Sigmar Polke: Athanor NOW: https://sigmar-polke-athanor-now.com/en