Oskar Kokoschka (1886 – 1980) and Jack B. Yeats developed a great friendship and admiration for each other’s work towards the last decade of Yeats’ life. This exhibition highlights a shared fascination with people on the margins of society and their search for new forms of expression.

Oskar Kokoschka emerged out of the Art Nouveau movement in Vienna but his energetic and spontaneous painting style reveals the influence of Van Gogh and the Berlin art scene on his work.

Following his escape to England in 1938 his paintings started to reflect the political climate and unfolding world events. During the 1940s many of his landscapes emerge as intense political allegories containing violent imagery and caricatured figures, whilst his portraits reveal the emotional and psychological mood of the sitter.

Exile and New Home is the first substantial presentation of Kokoschka’s work in England since 1986 (Tate, London). This exhibition was first shown at the Albertina, Vienna, which houses one of the largest Kokoschka collections worldwide