“Revisiting Robert Rauschenberg’s Creative Rebellion on His 100th Birthday”
Handle with Care: Robert Rauschenberg’s Ecological Conscience Exhibition Feature
1st Dibs Introspective, November 8, 2026
A planet-wide celebration feels fitting for an artist who saw connections everywhere: between paint and photography, art and life, self and surroundings.
by Trent Morse
The fame came through a deletion. In 1953, Robert Rauschenberg obtained a drawing from Willem de Kooning. And he erased it. At first glance, this seemed like an art-world stunt, a bratty thumbing of the nose at the reigning Abstract Expressionists.
But de Kooning was a willing participant, deliberately choosing a drawing he would actually miss, and Rauschenberg spent weeks painstakingly rubbing away each mark until only the faintest ghost of gesture remained. The act wasn’t rebellion or vandalism so much as a cleaning of the slate for a new form to emerge: contemporary art.