Alexander Calder: Motion Lab

Alexander Calder revolutionized art in the early 1930s by introducing actual movement into his sculptural and pictorial compositions. Animated as if by a life force, these works quickly came to be known as “mobiles,” a word that still brings to mind aerial, wind-activated sculptures today. Yet the range of creative possibilities envisioned by Calder far surpassed this familiar hanging form. 

Comprising a selection of artworks drawn almost exclusively from the Donald and Doris Fisher Collection and displayed both indoors and on adjacent terraces, this exhibition traces Calder’s explorations of motion from the late 1920s to the late 1960s. Alexander Calder: Motion Lab is the inaugural presentation in SFMOMA’s Calder gallery and marks the first in a series of annual exhibitions about his work. 

Exhibition overview from museum website