{{Short description|American painter and graphic artist (1925–2008)}} {{Redirect|Rauschenberg}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox artist | name = Robert Rauschenberg | image = Robert Rauschenberg (1968).jpg | caption = Rauschenberg in 1968 | birth_name = Milton Ernest Rauschenberg | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|10|22}} | birth_place = Port Arthur, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|05|12|1925|10|22}} | death_place = Captiva, Florida, U.S. | field = Assemblage | training = Kansas City Art Institute<br />{{Lang|fr|Académie Julian|italic=no}}<br />Black Mountain College <br />Art Students League of New York | movement = Neo-Dada, Abstract expressionism, Pop art | works = ''Canyon'' (1959)<br />''Monogram'' (1959) | patrons = | awards = Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts (1995)<br />Praemium Imperiale (1998) | spouse = {{marriage|Susan Weil|1950|1953|reason=div}} }}

'''Milton Ernest''' "'''Robert'''" or "'''Bob'''" '''Rauschenberg''' (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and multi-media artist, whose work has been associated with numerous mid-20th century art movements including the New York School, Conceptual Art, Pop art, and Neo-Dada. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artworks which incorporated everyday objects as art materials and which blurred the distinctions between painting and sculpture. Rauschenberg was primarily a painter and a sculptor, but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking and performance.<ref name="Retrospective"> {{cite news |url = https://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1997/11/28/feat/arts.1.html |title = Rauschenberg's Signature on the Century |work = Christian Science Monitor |date = November 28, 1997 |author = Marlena Donohue |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060707213354/http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1997/11/28/feat/arts.1.html |archive-date = July 7, 2006 }}</ref><ref name="AskArt">{{cite magazine |title=The Century's 25 Most Influential Artists |url=http://www.askart.com//AskART/R/robert_rauschenberg/robert_rauschenberg.aspx?searchtype=SUMMARY&artist=30093 |magazine=ARTnews |date=May 1999 |via=askART.com |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 20, 2007 |archive-date=January 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124160340/https://www.askart.com//AskART/R/robert_rauschenberg/robert_rauschenberg.aspx?searchtype=SUMMARY&artist=30093 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=FAQs – Bob Rauschenberg Gallery |url=http://www.rauschenberggallery.com/artists-inquiry/#:~:text=According%20to%20Rauschenberg,%20%E2%80%9CI%20didn,I%20liked%20it. |access-date=2025-04-10 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Rauschenberg received numerous awards during his nearly 60-year artistic career. Among the most prominent were the International Grand Prize in Painting at the 32nd Venice Biennale in 1964 and the National Medal of Arts in 1993.<ref>[http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html#93 Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721054307/http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html |date=July 21, 2011 }}</ref>

Rauschenberg lived and worked in New York City and on Captiva Island, Florida, until his death on May 12, 2008.<ref name="Bowles">{{cite web|author=Franklin Bowles Galleries|title=Robert Rauschenberg|url=http://www.franklinbowlesgallery.com/NY/Artists/Mod_Masters/Raushenberg/rauschenberg.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821193827/http://franklinbowlesgallery.com/NY/Artists/Mod_Masters/Raushenberg/rauschenberg.html|archive-date=August 21, 2007|work=FranlinkBowlesGallery.com}}</ref>

==Life and career== Rauschenberg was born Milton Ernest Rauschenberg in Port Arthur, Texas, the son of Dora Carolina (née Matson) and Ernest R. Rauschenberg.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20080513/BREAKING/788208543 |title=American Art Great Robert Rauschenberg Dies at 82 |work= The Ledger |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519145649/http://www.theledger.com/article/20080513/BREAKING/788208543 |archive-date=May 19, 2008 }}</ref><ref>[http://theind.com/article-66-.html Rauschenberg's Roots] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809161919/http://theind.com/article-66-.html |date=August 9, 2021 }}, Theind, 2005</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/14/local/me-rauschenberg14/2 | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Christopher | last=Knight | title=He led the way to Pop Art | date=May 14, 2008 | access-date=March 6, 2012 | archive-date=July 15, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715030354/http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/14/local/me-rauschenberg14/2 | url-status=dead }}</ref> His father was of German and his mother of Dutch descent.<ref>[https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/artist/chronology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127124127/https://rauschenbergfoundation.org/artist/chronology|date=November 27, 2022}}"Chronology: The chronology by Joan Young with Susan Davidson in ''Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective'' (New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1997), updated by Davidson and Kara Vander Weg for ''Robert Rauschenberg'' (New York: Gagosian Gallery, 2010), has been further revised for the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation website by foundation staff with Amanda Sroka."</ref> Rauschenberg incorrectly claimed that his paternal grandmother Tina “Tiny” Jane Howard was Cherokee.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cherokee Artists |url=https://firstamericanartmagazine.com/references/cherokee/ |access-date=April 3, 2024 |website=First American Art Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=April 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403190619/https://firstamericanartmagazine.com/references/cherokee/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/L445-QV3 |access-date=April 3, 2024 |website=www.familysearch.org |title=Archived copy |archive-date=April 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403185115/https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/L445-QV3}}</ref> His father worked for Gulf States Utilities, a light and power company. His parents were Fundamentalist Christians.<ref name="time">{{cite magazine|last=Hughes|first=Robert|date=October 27, 1997|title=Art: Robert Rauschenberg: The Great Permitter|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987259,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519143734/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987259,00.html|archive-date=May 19, 2008|magazine=Time}}</ref> He had a younger sister named Janet Begneaud.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert Rauschenberg Oral History Project|url=https://incite.columbia.edu/robert-rauschenberg-oral-history-project|access-date=August 27, 2020|website=INCITE|language=en-US|archive-date=January 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106035715/https://incite.columbia.edu/robert-rauschenberg-oral-history-project|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|date=August 19, 2019|editor-last=Sinclair|editor-first=Sara|editor2-last=Bearman|editor2-first=Peter|editor3-last=Clark|editor3-first=Mary Marshall|title=Robert Rauschenberg|doi=10.7312/sinc19276|isbn=978-0-231-54995-0|s2cid=242589376}}</ref>

At 18, Rauschenberg was admitted to the University of Texas at Austin where he began studying pharmacology, but he dropped out shortly after due to the difficulty of the coursework—not realizing at this point that he was dyslexic—and because of his unwillingness to dissect a frog in biology class.<ref name="people.com">Patricia Burstein (May 19, 1980), [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20076514,00.html In His Art and Life, Robert Rauschenberg Is a Man Who Steers His Own Daring Course] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809162923/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20076514,00.html |date=August 9, 2021 }} ''People''.</ref> He was drafted into the United States Navy in 1944. Based in California, he served as a neuropsychiatric technician in a Navy hospital until his discharge in 1945 or 1946.<ref name="people.com"/>

Rauschenberg subsequently studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the {{Lang|fr|Académie Julian|italic=no}} in Paris,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.waddingtoncustot.com/artists/53-robert-rauschenberg/biography/|title=Robert Rauschenberg|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=August 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809161728/https://www.waddingtoncustot.com/artists/53-robert-rauschenberg/biography/|url-status=live}}</ref> France, where he met fellow art student Susan Weil. At that time he also changed his name from Milton to Robert.<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Rauschenberg|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Rauschenberg|access-date=July 14, 2022|archive-date=March 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322193845/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Rauschenberg|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1948 Rauschenberg joined Weil in enrolling at Black Mountain College in North Carolina.<ref name="Kotz"> {{cite book |last= Kotz |first= Mary Lynn |title= Rauschenberg: Art and Life |year= 2004 |location= New York City |publisher= Harry N. Abrams, Inc. |isbn= 978-0-8109-3752-9 }}</ref><ref name="Publishers Weekly"> {{cite magazine |title= ''Rauschenberg: Art and Life'' |magazine= Publishers Weekly |last1 = Kotz|first1 = Mary Lynn|year = 1990 }}</ref>

At Black Mountain, Rauschenberg sought out Josef Albers, a founder of the Bauhaus in Germany, whom he had read about in an August 1948 issue of ''Time'' magazine. He hoped that Albers' rigorous teaching methods might curb his habitual sloppiness.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Pop art: the independent group to Neo pop, 1952–90|author=Collins, Bradford R. |date=2012|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-6243-9|location=London|oclc=805600556}}</ref> Albers' preliminary design courses relied on strict discipline that did not allow for any "uninfluenced experimentation."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bauhaus.de/english/bauhaus1919/unterricht/unterricht_albers.htm |title=bauhaus-archiv museum für gestaltung: startseite |publisher=Bauhaus.de |access-date=March 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718020118/http://www.bauhaus.de/english/bauhaus1919/unterricht/unterricht_albers.htm |archive-date=July 18, 2011 }}</ref><ref>Josef Albers, quoted in Martin Duberman, ''Black Mountain: An Exploration in Community'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 1993), p. 56.</ref>

Rauschenberg became, in his own words, "Albers' dunce, the outstanding example of what he was not talking about".<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |author=Tomkins, Calvin |title=Off the wall: a portrait of Robert Rauschenberg|date=2005|publisher=Picador|isbn=0-312-42585-6|edition=1st Picador|location=New York|page=192|oclc=63193548}}</ref> Although Rauschenberg considered Albers his most important teacher, he found a more compatible sensibility in John Cage, an established composer of avant-garde music. Like Rauschenberg, Cage had moved away from the teachings of his instructor, Arnold Schoenberg, in favor of a more experimentalist approach to music. Cage provided Rauschenberg with much-needed support and encouragement during the early years of his career, and the two remained friends and artistic collaborators for decades to follow.<ref name=":0" />

From 1949 to 1952 Rauschenberg studied with Vaclav Vytlacil and Morris Kantor at the Art Students League of New York,<ref name="NYTobit">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/design/14rauschenberg.html |title=Robert Rauschenberg, American Artist, Dies at 82 |author=Michael Kimmelman |newspaper=New York Times |date=May 14, 2008 |access-date=November 9, 2008 |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329170854/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/design/14rauschenberg.html |url-status=live }}</ref> where he met fellow artists Knox Martin and Cy Twombly.<ref>Walter Hopps, Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s, {{ISBN|0-940619-07-5}}</ref>

Rauschenberg married Susan Weil in the summer of 1950 at the Weil family home in Outer Island, Connecticut. Their only child, Christopher, was born July 16, 1951. The two separated in June 1952 and divorced in 1953.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914732-6,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070525114125/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914732-6,00.html|archive-date=May 25, 2007|work= Time magazine |title=The Most Living Artist|access-date= July 27, 2009|date=November 29, 1976 }}</ref> Thereafter, Rauschenberg had romantic relationships with fellow artists Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns, among others.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnvill.net/mfmassi.htm |author=Richard Wood Massi |title=Captain Cook's first voyage: an Interview with Morton Feldman |access-date=July 27, 2009 |archive-date=January 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105114618/http://www.cnvill.net/mfmassi.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/KatzPages/KatzLoversPt2.html|title=LOVERS AND DIVERS: INTERPICTORAL DIALOG IN THE WORK OF JASPER JOHNS AND ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG|access-date=July 27, 2009|author=Jonathan Katz|archive-date=December 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091223101325/http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/KatzPages/KatzLoversPt2.html}}</ref> His partner for the last 25 years of his life was artist Darryl Pottorf,<ref name="autogenerated1">Ella Nayor,"The Pine Island Eagle, "Bob Rauschenberg, art giant, dead at 82", May 13, 2008</ref> his former assistant.<ref name="NYTobit" />

In the 1970s he moved into NoHo in Manhattan in New York City.<ref name="auto2">Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood (2010). [https://books.google.com/books?id=lI5ERUmHf3YC&pg=PT4399 ''The Encyclopedia of New York City''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412125640/https://books.google.com/books?id=lI5ERUmHf3YC&pg=PT4399 |date=April 12, 2023 }}, Second Edition, Yale University Press.</ref>

Rauschenberg purchased the Beach House, his first property on Captiva Island, on July 26, 1968. However, the property did not become his permanent residence until the fall of 1970.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/residency/beach-house|title=Beach House|date=March 28, 2017|access-date=April 18, 2021|archive-date=August 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806030503/https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/residency/beach-house|url-status=live}}</ref>

Rauschenberg died of heart failure on May 12, 2008, on Captiva Island, Florida.<ref name="NYTobit" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Artist Robert Rauschenberg Dead at 82 |url=http://voanews.com/english/archive/2008-05/2008-05-13-voa65.cfm |work=Voice of America |access-date=January 3, 2009 |archive-date=May 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520103003/https://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-05/2008-05-13-voa65.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Artistic contribution== Rauschenberg's approach was sometimes called "Neo-Dadaist," a label he shared with the painter Jasper Johns.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/10/arts/art-in-review-021995.html|title=Art in Review|author=Roberta Smith|newspaper=New York Times|date=February 10, 1995|access-date=March 20, 2009|archive-date=July 11, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100711021204/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/10/arts/art-in-review-021995.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Rauschenberg famously stated that "painting relates to both art and life," and he wanted to work "in the gap between the two."<ref name=":1">Rauschenberg, Robert; Miller, Dorothy C. (1959). [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/748990996 <nowiki>Sixteen Americans [exhibition]</nowiki>]. {{Cite web |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/748990996 |title=Archived copy |access-date=May 24, 2024 |archive-date=May 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524111132/https://search.worldcat.org/title/748990996 |url-status=bot: unknown }}. New York: Museum of Modern Art. p. 58. {{ISBN|978-0-02-915670-4}}. OCLC 748990996. "Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. (I try to act in that gap between the two.)"</ref> Like many of his Dadaist predecessors, Rauschenberg questioned the distinction between art objects and everyday objects, and his use of readymade materials reprised the intellectual issues raised by Marcel Duchamp's ''Fountain'' (1917). Duchamp's Dadaist influence can also be observed in Jasper Johns' paintings of targets, numerals, and flags, which were familiar cultural symbols: "things the mind already knows."<ref>''His heart belongs to DADA'', Time 73, May 4, 1959: 58; as quoted in ''Jasper Johns, Writings, Sketchbook Notes, Interviews,'' ed. Kirk Varnedoe, Moma New York, 1996. "It all began with my painting a picture of an American flag. Using this design took care of a great deal for me because I didn't have to design it. So I want on to similar things like the targets things the mind already knows. That gave me room to work on other levels. For instance, I've always thought of a painting as a surface; painting it in one color made this very clear… A picture ought to be looked at the same way you look at a radiator." p. 82.</ref> [[File:Factum I and Factum II, 1957, Robert Rauschenberg.jpg|thumb|right|''Factum I'' and ''Factum II'' (both 1957) at the National Gallery of Art in 2022]]

At Black Mountain College, Rauschenberg experimented with a variety of artistic mediums including printmaking, drawing, photography, painting, sculpture, and theatre; his works often featured some combination of these. He created his ''Night Blooming'' paintings (1951) at Black Mountain by pressing pebbles and gravel into black pigment on canvas. In the very same year he made full body blueprints in collaboration with Susan Weil in his New York apartment, which "they hope to turn [...] into screen and wallpaper designs".<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=April 9, 1951|title=Speaking of pictures … – blueprint paper, sun lamp, a nude produce some vaporous fantasies|magazine=LIFE|pages=22–24}}</ref>

From the fall of 1952 to the spring of 1953, Rauschenberg traveled in Italy and North Africa with his fellow artist and partner Cy Twombly. There, he created collages and small sculptures, including the ''Scatole Personali'' and ''Feticci Personali'', out of found materials. He exhibited them at galleries in Rome and Florence.<ref name="italianmodernart.org">{{Cite web|title=It's a Roman Holiday for Artists: The American Artists of L'Obelisco After World War II|url=https://www.italianmodernart.org/journal/articles/its-a-roman-holiday-for-artists-the-american-artists-of-lobelisco-after-world-war-ii/|access-date=July 18, 2020|website=Center for Italian Modern Art|language=en|archive-date=March 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322131319/https://www.italianmodernart.org/journal/articles/its-a-roman-holiday-for-artists-the-american-artists-of-lobelisco-after-world-war-ii/|url-status=live}}</ref> To Rauschenberg's surprise, a number of the works sold; many that did not he threw into the river Arno, following the suggestion of an art critic who reviewed his show.<ref name="Rauschenberg's Epic Vision">{{cite magazine |last=Richardson |first=John |date=September 1997 |title=Rauschenberg's Epic Vision |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1997/09/rauschenberg199709 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=May 13, 2008 |archive-date=July 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715062844/http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1997/09/rauschenberg199709 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Holland Cotter (June 28, 2012), [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/arts/design/robert-rauschenberg-north-african-collages-and-scatole-personali-c-1952.html Robert Rauschenberg: 'North African Collages and Scatole Personali, c. 1952'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421194029/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/arts/design/robert-rauschenberg-north-african-collages-and-scatole-personali-c-1952.html |date=April 21, 2017 }} ''New York Times''.</ref>

Upon his return to New York City in 1953, Rauschenberg began creating sculpture with found materials from his Lower Manhattan neighborhood, such as scrap metal, wood, and twine.<ref name=":3" /> Throughout the 1950s, Rauschenberg supported himself by designing storefront window displays for Tiffany & Co. and Bonwit Teller, first with Susan Weil and later in partnership with Jasper Johns under the pseudonym Matson Jones. left|thumb|''Untitled'' (1963), oil, silkscreen, metal, and plastic on canvas

In a famously cited incident of 1953, Rauschenberg requested a drawing from the Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning for the express purpose of erasing it as an artistic statement. This conceptual work, titled ''Erased de Kooning Drawing,'' was executed with the elder artist's consent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfmoma.org/multimedia/interactive_features/78 |title=Explore Modern Art &#124; Multimedia &#124; Interactive Features &#124; Robert Rauschenberg's Erased de Kooning Drawing |publisher=SFMOMA |access-date=March 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106095053/http://www.sfmoma.org/multimedia/interactive_features/78 |archive-date=January 6, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="NYTobit" /><ref name="blouinart" />

In 1961, Rauschenberg explored a similar conceptual approach by presenting an idea as the artwork itself. He was invited to participate in an exhibition at the Galerie Iris Clert in Paris, where artists were to present portraits of Clert, the gallery owner. Rauschenberg's submission consisted of a telegram declaring "This is a portrait of Iris Clert if I say so."<ref name=":2" />

By 1962, Rauschenberg's paintings were beginning to incorporate not only found objects but found images as well. After a visit to Andy Warhol's studio that year, Rauschenberg began using a silkscreen process, usually reserved for commercial means of reproduction, to transfer photographs to canvas.<ref>Thomas Crow, "Social Register," ''Artforum'' (New York) 47, no. 1 (Sept. 2008), pp. 426–29.</ref> The silkscreen paintings made between 1962 and 1964 led critics to identify Rauschenberg's work with Pop art.

During this period Rauschenberg created ''Barge'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Rauschenberg {{!}} Barge |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/3547 |access-date=2025-08-03 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> a 32 foot long silkscreen and oil work created predominantly over a 24 hour period. Images recognizable in the work include trucks, spacecraft, text and parts of Diego Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus, among others.

Rauschenberg had experimented with technology in his artworks since the making of his early Combines in the mid-1950s, where he sometimes used working radios, clocks, and electric fans as sculptural materials. He later explored his interest in technology while working with Bell Laboratories research scientist Billy Klüver. Together they realized some of Rauschenberg's most ambitious technology-based experiments, such as ''Soundings'' (1968), a light installation which responded to ambient sound. In 1966, Klüver and Rauschenberg officially launched Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), a non-profit organization established to promote collaborations between artists and engineers.<ref>Kristine Stiles & Peter Selz, ''Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings'' (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles) University of California Press 2012, p. 453</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Tate|title=Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) – Art Term|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/e/experiments-art-and-technology-eat|access-date=August 27, 2020|website=Tate|language=en-GB|archive-date=August 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823060439/https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/e/experiments-art-and-technology-eat|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1969, NASA invited Rauschenberg to witness the launch of Apollo 11<ref>{{Cite web |last=Russo |first=Carolyn |title=How Robert Rauschenberg's Art Brought NASA Missions to Life |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-books/2026/03/05/how-robert-rauschenbergs-art-brought-nasa-missions-to-life/ |access-date=2026-04-11 |website=www.smithsonianmag.com |language=en}}</ref>. In response to this landmark event, Rauschenberg created his ''Stoned Moon Series'' of lithographs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Birmingham Museum of Art|author-link=Birmingham Museum of Art|title=Birmingham Museum of Art: guide to the collection|year=2010|publisher=Birmingham Museum of Art|location=[Birmingham, Ala]|isbn=978-1-904832-77-5|page=235}}</ref> This involved combining diagrams and other images from NASA's archives with his own drawings and handwritten text.<ref>{{cite web|title=Signs of the Times: Robert Rauschenberg's America|url=http://www.mmoca.org/exhibitions/exhibitdetails/signsofthetimes/index.php|publisher=Madison Museum of Contemporary Art|access-date=January 27, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013043113/http://mmoca.org/exhibitions/exhibitdetails/signsofthetimes/index.php|archive-date=October 13, 2011}}</ref><ref>Craig F. Starr Associates, New York, ''Robert Rauschenberg: Stoned Moon 1969–70'', May 30 – July 26. Exh. cat. with essay (ca. 1970) by Michael Crichton.</ref> [[Image:Riding Bikes by Robert Rauschenberg 3.jpg|thumb|right|''Riding Bikes'' (1998) in Berlin]]

From 1970, Rauschenberg worked from his home and studio in Captiva, Florida. The first works he created in his new studio were ''Cardboards'' (1971–72) and ''Early Egyptians'' (1973–74), for which he relied on locally sourced materials such as cardboard and sand. Where his previous works had often highlighted urban imagery and materials, Rauschenberg now favored the effect of natural fibers found in fabric and paper. He printed on textiles using his solvent-transfer technique to make the ''Hoarfrost'' (1974–76) and ''Spread'' (1975–82) series; the latter featured large stretches of collaged fabric on wood panels. Rauschenberg created his ''Jammer'' (1975–76) series using colorful fabrics inspired by his trip to Ahmedabad, India, a city famous for its textiles. The imageless simplicity of the Jammer series is a striking contrast with the image-filled Hoarfrosts and the grittiness of his earliest works made in New York City.

International travel became a central part of Rauschenberg's artistic process after 1975. In 1984, Rauschenberg announced the start of his Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) at the United Nations. Almost entirely funded by the artist, the ROCI project consisted of a seven-year tour to ten countries around the world. Rauschenberg took photographs in each location and made artworks inspired by the cultures he visited. The resulting works were displayed in a local exhibition in each country. Rauschenberg often donated an artwork to a local cultural institution.<ref>Ikegami, Hiroko. ''The Great Migrator: Robert Rauschenberg and the Global Rise of American Art''. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2010.</ref>

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Rauschenberg focused on silkscreening imagery onto a variety of differently treated metals, such as steel and mirrored aluminum. He created many series of so-called "metal paintings," including: ''Borealis'' (1988–92),<ref>Dr. Corinna Thierolf, "Robert Rauschenberg: Borealis 1988–92" (Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac: 2019).</ref> ''Urban Bourbons'' (1988–1996), ''Phantoms'' (1991), and ''Night Shades'' (1991).<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 13, 2020|editor-last=Braun|editor-first=Emily|title=Night Shades and Phantoms: An Exhibition of Works by Robert Rauschenberg, Catalog Co-edited by Emily Braun|url=https://huntercollegeart.org/2020/05/13/night-shades-and-phantoms-an-exhibition-of-works-by-robert-rauschenberg-catalog-co-edited-by-emily-braun/|access-date=August 27, 2020|website=Hunter College Department of Art and Art History|publisher=Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Hunter College|language=en-US|archive-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803142730/https://huntercollegeart.org/2020/05/13/night-shades-and-phantoms-an-exhibition-of-works-by-robert-rauschenberg-catalog-co-edited-by-emily-braun/|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, throughout the 1990s, Rauschenberg continued to utilize new materials while still working with more rudimentary techniques. As part of his engagement with the latest technological innovations, in his late painting series he transferred digital inkjet photographic images to a variety of painting supports. For his ''Arcadian Retreats'' (1996) he transferred imagery to wet fresco. His ''Love Hotel [Anagram (A Pun)]'' from 1998, and made out of vegetable dye transfer on polylaminate, is included in the permanent collection of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, in Florida, the artist's home state for nearly forty years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Love Hotel [Anagram (A Pun)] • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2013.4 |access-date=May 30, 2023 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US |archive-date=May 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530233906/https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2013.4/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Rauschenberg {{!}} Love Hotel [Anagrams (A Pun)] (1998) {{!}} Artsy |url=https://www.artsy.net/artwork/robert-rauschenberg-love-hotel-anagrams-a-pun |access-date=September 12, 2023 |website=www.artsy.net |language=en |archive-date=October 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005035403/https://www.artsy.net/artwork/robert-rauschenberg-love-hotel-anagrams-a-pun |url-status=live }}</ref> In keeping with his commitment to the environment, Rauschenberg used biodegradable dyes and pigments, and water rather than chemicals in the transfer process.<ref name="Robert Rauschenberg">[http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/bio/?artist_name=Robert%20Rauschenberg Robert Rauschenberg] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121020216/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/bio/?artist_name=Robert%20Rauschenberg |date=January 21, 2013 }} Guggenheim Collection.</ref>

===The ''White Paintings'', black paintings, and ''Red Paintings''=== In 1951 Rauschenberg created his ''White Painting'' series in the tradition of monochromatic painting established by Kazimir Malevich, who reduced painting to its most essential qualities for an experience of aesthetic purity and infinity.<ref name="guggenheimcollection.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/3518 |title=Pop art – Rauschenberg – Untitled (Red Painting) |publisher=Guggenheim Collection |access-date=March 20, 2011 |archive-date=April 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405015918/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/3518 |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''White Paintings'' were shown at Eleanor Ward's Stable Gallery in New York in fall 1953. Rauschenberg used everyday white house paint and paint rollers to create smooth, unembellished surfaces which at first appear as blank canvas. Instead of perceiving them to be without content, however, John Cage described the ''White Paintings'' as "airports for the lights, shadows and particles";<ref>{{cite book|last=Cage|first=John|title=Silence|url=https://archive.org/details/silencelecturesw0000cage|url-access=registration|year=1961|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|location=Middletown, CT|pages=[https://archive.org/details/silencelecturesw0000cage/page/102 102]}}</ref> surfaces which reflected delicate atmospheric changes in the room. Rauschenberg himself said that they were affected by ambient conditions, "so you could almost tell how many people are in the room." Like the ''White Paintings'', the black paintings of 1951–1953 were executed on multiple panels and were predominantly single color works. Rauschenberg applied matte and glossy black paint to textured grounds of newspaper on canvas, occasionally allowing the newspaper to remain visible.

By 1953 Rauschenberg had moved from the ''White Painting'' and black painting series to the heightened expressionism of his ''Red Painting'' series. He regarded red as "the most difficult color" with which to paint, and accepted the challenge by dripping, pasting, and squeezing layers of red pigment directly onto canvas grounds that included patterned fabric, newspaper, wood, and nails.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Rauschenberg|first1=Robert|title=Rauschenberg|last2=Rose|first2=Barbara|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1987|isbn=978-0-394-75529-8|location=New York|page=53|oclc=16356539}}</ref> The complex material surfaces of the ''Red Paintings'' were forerunners of Rauschenberg's well-known Combine series (1954-1964).<ref name="guggenheimcollection.org" />

===Combines=== [[File:Bed, 1955, Rauschenberg at MoMA 2022.jpg|thumb|right|''Bed'' (1955) at the Museum of Modern Art in 2022]] Rauschenberg collected discarded objects on the streets of New York City and brought them back to his studio where he integrated them into his work. He claimed he "wanted something other than what I could make myself and I wanted to use the surprise and the collectiveness and the generosity of finding surprises. [...] So the object itself was changed by its context and therefore it became a new thing."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/rules-of-rauschenberg/ |title=The rules of art according to Rauschenberg |website=Tate |access-date=May 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204234427/https://www.tate.org.uk/rules-of-rauschenberg/ |archive-date=December 4, 2017}}</ref><ref name="blouinart">{{cite web |url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/270491/robert-rauschenberg-dead-at-82 |title=Robert Rauschenberg dead at 82 |date=May 13, 2008 |website=Blouin Art Info |access-date=May 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128080141/http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/270491/robert-rauschenberg-dead-at-82 |archive-date=January 28, 2018}}</ref>

Rauschenberg's comment concerning the gap between art and life provides the departure point for an understanding of his contributions as an artist.<ref name=":1" /> He saw the potential beauty in almost anything; he once said, "I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they're surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable."<ref name="NYTobit" /> His Combine series endowed everyday objects with a new significance by bringing them into the context of fine art alongside traditional painting materials. The Combines eliminated the boundaries between art and sculpture so that both were present in a single work of art. While "Combines" technically refers to Rauschenberg's work from 1954 to 1964, Rauschenberg continued to utilize everyday objects such as clothing, newspaper, urban debris, and cardboard throughout his artistic career.

thumb|left|''Canyon'' (1959), Combine painting

His transitional pieces that led to the creation of Combines were ''Charlene'' (1954) and ''Collection'' (1954/1955), where he collaged objects such as scarves, electric light bulbs, mirrors, and comic strips. Although Rauschenberg had implemented newspapers and patterned textiles in his black paintings and ''Red Paintings'', in the Combines he gave everyday objects a prominence equal to that of traditional painting materials. Considered one of the first of the Combines, ''Bed'' (1955) was created by smearing red paint across a well-worn quilt, sheet, and pillow. The work was hung vertically on the wall like a traditional painting. Because of the intimate connections of the materials to the artist's own life, ''Bed'' is often considered to be a self-portrait and a direct imprint of Rauschenberg's interior consciousness. Some critics suggested the work could be read as a symbol for violence and rape,<ref>{{cite news |title=Robert Rauschenberg |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1953011/Robert-Rauschenberg.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1953011/Robert-Rauschenberg.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=May 13, 2008 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref> but Rauschenberg described Bed as "one of the friendliest pictures I've ever painted."<ref name=":3">Tomkins, Calvin (February 29, 1964). "Profiles: Moving Out". The New Yorker 40, no. 2. p. 64.</ref> Among his most famous Combines are those that incorporate taxidermied animals, such as ''Monogram'' (1955–1959) which includes a stuffed angora goat, and ''Canyon'' (1959), which features a stuffed golden eagle. Although the eagle was salvaged from the trash, Canyon drew government ire due to the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.<ref>''The New York Times'', "MArt's Sale Value? Zero. The Tax Bill? $29 Million, A Catch-22 of Art and Taxes, Starring a Stuffed Eagle" by Cohen, Patricia, July 22, 2012.</ref>

Critics originally viewed the Combines in terms of their formal qualities: color, texture, and composition. The formalist view of the 1960s was later refuted by critic Leo Steinberg, who said that each Combine was "a receptor surface on which objects are scattered, on which data is entered."<ref>Steinberg, Leo (1972). ''Other criteria: Confrontations with twentieth-century art.'' New York: Oxford University Press. p. 90. {{ISBN|978-0-226-77185-4}}.</ref> According to Steinberg, the horizontality of what he called Rauschenberg's "flatbed picture plane" had replaced the traditional verticality of painting, and subsequently allowed for the uniquely material-bound surfaces of Rauschenberg's work.

In 2006, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in association with the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented ''Robert Rauschenberg: Combines'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Rauschenberg |url=https://localhost:5000/exhibitions/listings/2005/robert-rauschenberg |access-date=2025-08-25 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> an exhibition of over 65 of his works. It was shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from December 20, 2005 – April 2, 2006, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, May 21, 2006 – September 4, 2006.

===Performance and dance=== Rauschenberg began exploring his interest in dance after moving to New York in the early 1950s. He was first exposed to avant-garde dance and performance art at Black Mountain College, where he participated in John Cage's ''Theatre Piece No. 1'' (1952), often considered the first Happening. He began designing sets, lighting, and costumes for Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor. In the early 1960s he was involved in the radical dance-theater experiments at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, and he choreographed his first performance, ''Pelican'' (1963), for the Judson Dance Theater in May 1963.<ref>Glueck, Grace. "Ballet: Brides and Turtles in Dance Program." New York Times, May 13, 1965, p. 33.</ref> Rauschenberg was close friends with Cunningham-affiliated dancers including Carolyn Brown, Viola Farber, and Steve Paxton, all of whom featured in his choreographed works. Rauschenberg's full-time connection to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company ended following its 1964 world tour.<ref>Alastair Macaulay (May 14, 2008), [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/dance/14coll.html Rauschenberg and Dance, Partners for Life ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321123840/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/dance/14coll.html |date=March 21, 2017 }} ''New York Times''</ref> In 1966, Rauschenberg created the ''Open Score'' performance for part of ''9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering'' at the 69th Regiment Armory, New York. The series was instrumental in the formation of Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.).<ref>{{cite web|date=January 13, 2008|title="Robert Rauschenberg – Open Score" Film Screening|url=http://www7.nationalacademies.org/arts/Robert_Rauschenberg%27s_Open_Score_Film_Screening_July_12_2007.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113180423/http://www7.nationalacademies.org/arts/Robert_Rauschenberg%27s_Open_Score_Film_Screening_July_12_2007.html|archive-date=January 13, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Rauschenberg: Open Score (performance)|url=http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=642|website=www.fondation-langlois.org|access-date=May 11, 2017|archive-date=September 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912214237/http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=642|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1977 Rauschenberg, Cunningham, and Cage reconnected as collaborators for the first time in thirteen years to create ''Travelogue'' (1977), for which Rauschenberg contributed the costume and set designs.<ref name="Robert Rauschenberg" /> Rauschenberg did not choreograph his own works after 1967, but he continued to collaborate with other choreographers, including Trisha Brown, for the remainder of his artistic career.

===Commissions=== Throughout his career, Rauschenberg designed numerous posters in support of causes that were important to him. In 1965, when ''Life'' magazine commissioned him to visualize a modern Inferno, he did not hesitate to vent his rage at the Vietnam War and other contemporary sociopolitical issues, including racial violence, neo-Nazism, political assassinations, and ecological disaster.<ref name="Rauschenberg's Epic Vision"/>

In 1969 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City commissioned Rauschenberg to create a piece in honor of its centennial. He learned that the museum's original goals were detailed in a certificate from 1870 and created his 'Centennial Certificate' based on that object, with images of some of the best-known pieces in the museum and the signatures of the board at that time. Copies of the Centennial Certificate exist in numerous museums and private collections.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farrell |first=Jennifer |title=Robert Rauschenberg and The Met's Centennial |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/4/robert-rauschenberg-100-anniversary-print-certificate |access-date=August 28, 2022 |website=The Met Museum |date=April 20, 2022 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625162657/https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/4/robert-rauschenberg-100-anniversary-print-certificate |url-status=live }}</ref>

On December 30, 1979, the ''Miami Herald'' printed 650,000 copies of ''Tropic,'' its Sunday magazine, with a cover designed by Rauschenberg. In 1983, he won a Grammy Award for his album design of Talking Heads' album ''Speaking in Tongues''.<ref>Richard Lacayo (May 15, 2008), [https://web.archive.org/web/20080522041904/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1806817,00.html Robert Rauschenberg: The Wild and Crazy Guy] ''Time''.</ref> In 1986 Rauschenberg was commissioned by BMW to paint a full size BMW 635 CSi for the sixth installment of the famed BMW Art Car Project. Rauschenberg's car was the first in the project to feature reproductions of works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as well as his own photographs.

In 1998, the Vatican commissioned a work by Rauschenberg in honor of the Jubilee year 2000 to be displayed in the Padre Pio Liturgical Hall, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. Working around the theme of the Last Judgement, Rauschenberg created ''The Happy Apocalypse'' (1999), a twenty-foot-long maquette. It was ultimately rejected by the Vatican on the grounds that Rauschenberg's depiction of God as a satellite dish was an inappropriate theological reference.<ref>Mario Codognato and Mirta d'Argenzio, "Interview with Robert Rauschenberg," in ''Rauschenberg'', exh. cat. (Ferrara: Palazzo dei diamanti, 2004), p. 97 (in English and Italian).</ref>

==Works== <gallery widths="140" heights="140" perrow="5">

File:Robert Rauschenberg exposeert in Stedelijk Museum, Bestanddeelnr 921-0999.jpg|Robert Rauschenberg with ''Estate'' (1963), in a photograph at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, February 1968

</gallery>

==Exhibitions== Rauschenberg had his first solo exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery in spring 1951.<ref>The New York Times, May 14, 1951,</ref><ref>Michael McNay (May 13, 2008), [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/may/13/art Obituary: Robert Rauschenberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325060715/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/may/13/art |date=March 25, 2023 }} ''The Guardian''</ref> In 1953, while in Italy, he was noted by Irene Brin and Gaspero del Corso and they organized his first European exhibition in their famous gallery in Rome.<ref name="italianmodernart.org"/> In 1953, Eleanor Ward invited Rauschenberg to participate in a joint exhibition with Cy Twombly at the Stable Gallery. In his second solo exhibition in New York at the Charles Egan Gallery in 1954, Rauschenberg presented his ''Red Paintings'' (1953–1953) and Combines (1954–1964).<ref>Stuart Preston, New York Times, December 19, 1954</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Willem de Kooning |url=https://www.theartstory.org/gallery-egan-charles.htm |title=Gallery – The Charles Egan Gallery |publisher=The Art Story |access-date=March 20, 2011 |archive-date=December 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208060459/https://www.theartstory.org/gallery-egan-charles.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Leo Castelli mounted a solo exhibition of Rauschenberg's Combines in 1958. The only sale was an acquisition by Castelli himself of ''Bed'' (1955), now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.<ref>Andrew Russeth (June 7, 2010), [http://www.blouinartinfo.com/market-news/article/34827-ten-juicy-tales-from-the-new-leo-castelli-biography Ten Juicy Tales from the New Leo Castelli Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015235040/http://www.blouinartinfo.com/market-news/article/34827-ten-juicy-tales-from-the-new-leo-castelli-biography |date=October 15, 2022 }}, Blouartinfo</ref>

Rauschenberg's first career retrospective was organized by the Jewish Museum, New York, in 1963. In 1964 he became one of the first American artists to win the International Grand Prize in Painting at the Venice Biennale (James Whistler and Mark Tobey had previously won painting prizes in 1895 and 1958 respectively). A mid-career retrospective was organized by the National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum), Washington, D.C., and traveled throughout the United States between 1976 and 1978.<ref name="Robert Rauschenberg"/><ref>National Collection of Fine Arts (U.S.); Rauschenberg, Robert; Alloway, Lawrence; Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Art Institute of Chicago; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, eds. (1976). [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1022848485 ''Robert Rauschenberg''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810130041/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1022848485 |date=August 10, 2021 }} Washington: National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution. {{ISBN|978-0-87474-170-4}}.</ref>

In the 1990s a retrospective was held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997), which traveled to museums in Houston, Cologne, and Bilbao through 1999.<ref>Hopps, W., Rauschenberg, R., Davidson, S., Brown, T., & Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. (1998). [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/37882796 Robert Rauschenberg, a retrospective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111100729/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/37882796 |date=January 11, 2023 }}. New York: Guggenheim Museum. {{ISBN|0-8109-6903-3}}.</ref> An exhibition of Combines was presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2005; traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, through 2007). Rauschenberg's first posthumous retrospective was mounted at Tate Modern (2016; traveled to Museum of Modern Art, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through 2017).<ref>[http://www.gagosian.com/artists/robert-rauschenberg Robert Rauschenberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203102053/https://gagosian.com/artists/robert-rauschenberg/ |date=February 3, 2023 }} Gagosian Gallery.</ref>

Further exhibitions include: ''Robert Rauschenberg: Jammers,'' Gagosian Gallery, London (2013); ''Robert Rauschenberg: The Fulton Street Studio'', ''1953–54'', Craig F. Starr Associates (2014); ''A Visual Lexicon,'' Leo Castelli Gallery (2014); ''Robert Rauschenberg: Works on Metal'', Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills (2014);<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Robert-Rauschenberg/232FBBEE07F9F245/Exhibitions|title=Rauschenberg, Robert – 1785 Exhibitions and Events|website=www.mutualart.com|access-date=December 13, 2014|archive-date=December 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213132740/http://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Robert-Rauschenberg/232FBBEE07F9F245/Exhibitions|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Rauschenberg in China'', Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2016); and ''Rauschenberg: The 1/4 Mile'' at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2018–2019).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/rauschenberg-14-mile|title=Rauschenberg: The 1/4 Mile {{!}} LACMA|website=www.lacma.org|access-date=January 8, 2019|archive-date=December 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210013718/https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/rauschenberg-14-mile|url-status=live}}</ref>

From June 27, 2025 - February 15, 2026, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibited ''Robert Rauschenberg: Cardbirds.'' The works were created in 1971 “from photographic and mechanical transfers as well as relief printing. His prints were designed to look like actual flattened cardboard boxes, replete with labels and stickers.”<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Rauschenberg: Cardbirds - Virginia Museum of Fine Arts |url=https://www.vmfa.museum/exhibitions/robert-rauschenberg-cardbirds |access-date=2026-02-08 |website=www.vmfa.museum |language=en}}</ref>

To celebrate the centenary of Rauschenberg’s birth, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum will host ''Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can’t Be Stopped''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection in Focus {{!}} Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can't Be Stopped |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/collection-in-focus-robert-rauschenberg-life-cant-be-stopped |access-date=2025-08-03 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> featuring seminal works including ''Barge'', a 32 foot long silkscreen he made mostly over the course of one day. The exhibition runs October 10, 2025 – April 5, 2026, and includes loans from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. It is one of several exhibits celebrating the centenary including ''Robert Rauschenberg: Fabric Works of the 1970s'' at the Menil Collection, ''Robert Rauschenberg: The Use of Images'' at the Fundación Juan March<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Rauschenberg: The Use of Images {{!}} Fundación Juan March |url=https://www.march.es/en/exhibitions/robert-rauschenberg-use-images,%20https://www.march.es/en/exhibitions/robert-rauschenberg-use-images |access-date=2025-12-02 |website=www.march.es |language=en}}</ref>, and ''Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly'' at the Museum Brandhorst<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-05 |title=Five Friends. John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly {{!}} Museum Brandhorst |url=https://www.museum-brandhorst.de/en/press-releases/five-friends |access-date=2025-12-02 |website=Five Friends. John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly {{!}} Museum Brandhorst |language=en-US}}</ref> and Museum Ludwig.

From September 9 – April 11, 2026, the Grey Art Museum displayed ''Handle with Care: Robert Rauschenberg's Ecological Conscience'', an exhibit that examine Rauschenberg’s belief that “…artists have both the imperative and power to promote responsible stewardship of the planet.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 8, 2025 |title=Handle with Care: Robert Rauschenberg's Ecological Conscience |url=https://greyartmuseum.nyu.edu/exhibition/handle-with-care-robert-rauschenbergs-ecological-conscienceseptember-9-2025-april-11-2026/ |website=Grey Art Museum}}</ref>

From September 12, 2025 – April 19, 2026, Museum of the City of New York exhibited ''Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures From the Real World'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Rauschenberg's New York: Pictures from the Real World {{!}} Museum of the City of New York |url=https://www.mcny.org/exhibition/robert-rauschenbergs-new-york-pictures-real-world-0 |access-date=2025-09-09 |website=www.mcny.org |language=en}}</ref> one of several exhibits celebrating the centennial of Rauschenberg’s birth.

==Legacy== Rauschenberg believed strongly in the power of art as a catalyst for social change. The Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) began in 1984 as an effort to spark international dialogue and enhance cultural understanding through artistic expression. A ROCI exhibition went on view at the National Gallery of Art, D.C., in 1991,<ref>National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., ''[https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/1991/rauschenberg.html Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129114338/https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/1991/rauschenberg.html |date=November 29, 2022 }},'' May 12 – September 2, 1991. Exh. cat. with introduction by Jack Cowart; essay by Rosetta Brooks; interview with Rauschenberg by Donald Saff; previously published essays by José Donoso, Roberto Fernández Retamar, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko; previously published texts by Heiner Müller and Wu Zuguang; previously published statement by Rauschenberg; and previously published poems by Laba Pingcuo and Octavio Paz.</ref> concluding a ten-country tour: Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, China, Tibet, Japan, Cuba, U.S.S.R., Germany, and Malaysia.

In 1970, Rauschenberg created a program called Change, Inc., to award one-time emergency grants of up to $1,000 to visual artists based on financial need.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Liscia|first=Valentina Di|date=March 10, 2020|title=A New Medical Emergency Grant for Artists|url=https://hyperallergic.com/547192/rauschenberg-emergency-grants/|access-date=August 27, 2020|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US|archive-date=December 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225042542/https://hyperallergic.com/547192/rauschenberg-emergency-grants/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1990, Rauschenberg created the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (RRF) to promote awareness of the causes he cared about, such as world peace, the environment and humanitarian issues. In 1986, Rauschenberg received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.<ref>{{cite web|title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement|website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/|access-date=October 10, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215023909/https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=uofr>{{cite web|title= About the Academy. Photo: The internationally-acclaimed artist, Robert Rauschenberg, with Council member, paleontologist and evolutionary biologist, Stephen Jay Gould.|publisher= Academy of Achievement|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/|access-date= October 10, 2020|archive-date= August 6, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200806042622/https://achievement.org/our-history/|url-status= live}}</ref> He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton in 1993. In 2000, Rauschenberg was honored with amfAR's Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS.<ref>[http://amfar.org/in-the-spotlight/amfar-awards/award-of-excellence-for-artistic-contributions-to-the-fight-against-aids/ Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226223822/http://amfar.org/in-the-spotlight/amfar-awards/award-of-excellence-for-artistic-contributions-to-the-fight-against-aids/ |date=February 26, 2014 }} amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.</ref>

RRF today owns many works by Rauschenberg from every period of his career. In 2011, the foundation presented ''The Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg'' in collaboration with Gagosian Gallery, featuring selections from Rauschenberg's personal art collection. Proceeds from the exhibition helped fund the foundation's philanthropic activities.<ref>[http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/the-collection-of-robert-rauschenberg--november-03-2011 The Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg, November 3 – December 23, 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611142835/http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/the-collection-of-robert-rauschenberg--november-03-2011 |date=June 11, 2012 }} Gagosian Gallery.</ref> Also in 2011, the foundation launched its "Artist as Activist" project and invited artist Shepard Fairey to focus on an issue of his choice. The editioned work he made was sold to raise funds for the Coalition for the Homeless.<ref>Cristina Ruiz (March 28, 2012), [http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Rauschenbergs-foundation-could-outspend-Warhols/26110 Rauschenberg's foundation could outspend Warhol's] ''The Art Newspaper''.</ref> RRF continues to support emerging artists and arts organizations with grants and philanthropic collaborations each year. The RRF has several residency programs that take place at the foundation's headquarters in New York and at the late artist's property in Captiva Island, Florida.

In 2013, Dale Eisinger of ''Complex'' ranked ''Open Score'' (1966) seventh in his list of the all-time greatest performance art works.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Eisinger|first=Dale|date=April 9, 2013|title=The 25 Best Performance Art Pieces of All Time|url=https://www.complex.com/style/2013/04/the-25-best-performance-art-pieces-of-all-time/|access-date=February 28, 2021|website=Complex|language=en|archive-date=July 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730013607/http://www.complex.com/style/2013/04/the-25-best-performance-art-pieces-of-all-time/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College was renamed in 2004 (from The Gallery of Fine Art, founded 1979) in Rauschenberg's honor and with his blessing.

==Art market== In 2010 ''Studio Painting'' (1960‑61), one of Rauschenberg's Combines originally estimated at $6&nbsp;million to $9&nbsp;million, was bought from the collection of Michael Crichton for $11&nbsp;million at Christie's, New York.<ref>Carol Vogel (May 12, 2010), [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E7DD103BF931A25756C0A9669D8B63 At Christie's, a $28.6&nbsp;Million Bid Sets a Record for Johns] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809161659/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E7DD103BF931A25756C0A9669D8B63 |date=August 9, 2021 }} ''New York Times''.</ref> In 2019, Christie's sold the silkscreen painting ''Buffalo II'' (1964) for $88.8 million, shattering the artist's previous record.

===Lobbying for artists' resale royalties=== In the early 1970s, Rauschenberg lobbied U.S. Congress to pass a bill that would compensate artists when their work is resold on the secondary market. Rauschenberg took up his fight for artist resale royalties (droit de suite) after the taxi baron Robert Scull sold part of his collection of Abstract Expressionist and Pop art works for $2.2 million. Scull had originally purchased Rauschenberg's paintings ''Thaw'' (1958) and ''Double Feature'' (1959) for $900 and $2,500 respectively; roughly a decade later Scull sold the pieces for $85,000 and $90,000 in a 1973 auction at Sotheby Parke Bernet in New York.<ref>Patricia Cohen (November 1, 2011), [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/arts/design/artists-file-suit-against-sothebys-christies-and-ebay.html Artists File Lawsuits, Seeking Royalties] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902005101/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/arts/design/artists-file-suit-against-sothebys-christies-and-ebay.html |date=September 2, 2022 }} ''New York Times''.</ref>

Rauschenberg's lobbying efforts were rewarded in 1976 when California governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Resale Royalty Act of 1976.<ref>Jori Finkel (February 6, 2014), [https://theartnewspaper.com/blogs/Lessons-of-Californias-droit-de-suite-debacle/31771 Jori Finkel: Lessons of California's droit de suite debacle] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228180609/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/blogs/Lessons-of-Californias-droit-de-suite-debacle/31771 |date=February 28, 2014 }} ''The Art Newspaper''.</ref> The artist continued to pursue nationwide resale royalties legislation following the California victory.

== See also == * Combine painting

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== *Busch, Julia M., [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/4ed0b0bd878eaf2a.html ''A Decade of Sculpture: the New Media in the 1960s''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120751/http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/4ed0b0bd878eaf2a.html |date=September 29, 2007 }} (The Art Alliance Press: Philadelphia; [http://www.aupresses.com/ Associated University Presses]: London, 1974) {{ISBN|0-87982-007-1}}, {{ISBN|978-0-87982-007-7}}. * Marika Herskovic, [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50666793&tab=holdings ''New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929103229/http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50666793%26tab%3Dholdings |date=September 29, 2007 }} (New York School Press, 2000.) {{ISBN|0-9677994-0-6}}. p.&nbsp;8; p.&nbsp;32; p.&nbsp;38; p.&nbsp;294–297. * Fugelso, Karl. "Robert Rauschenberg's ''Inferno'' Illuminations." In: ''Postmodern Medievalisms''. Ed. Richard Utz and Jesse G. Swan (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2004). pp.&nbsp;47–66. *Sweeney, Louise M. [https://www.csmonitor.com/1991/0520/20101.html "Rauschenberg's Worldwide Quest for Art and Ideas,"] The Christian Science Monitor, May 20, 1991.

==External links== {{Wikiquote}}

* [https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org Robert Rauschenberg Foundation] * [https://www.thebroad.org/art/robert-rauschenberg Robert Rauschenberg: The Broad] * [https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-rauschenberg-12870 Oral history interview with Robert Rauschenberg, 1965, Smithsonian Archives of American Art] * [https://www.moma.org/artists/4823 Robert Rauschenberg: MoMA] * [https://www.sfmoma.org/rauschenberg-research-project/ Rauschenberg Research Project] at SFMOMA * {{IMDb name|id=0712156|name=Robert Rauschenberg}}

{{Robert Rauschenberg}} {{Navboxes | title = Awards for Robert Rauschenberg | list = {{Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts Laureates}} {{National Medal of Arts recipients 1990s}} }}

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