A groundbreaking examination of the “double” in modern and contemporary art

From ancient mythology to contemporary cinema, the motif of the double—which repeats, duplicates, mirrors, inverts, splits, and reenacts—has captured our imaginations, both attracting and repelling us. The Double examines this essential concept through the lens of art, from modernism to contemporary practice—from the paired paintings of Henri Matisse and Arshile Gorky, to the double line works of Piet Mondrian and Marlow Moss, to Eva Hesse’s One More Than One, Lorna Simpson’s Two Necklines, Roni Horn’s Pair Objects, and Rashid Johnson’s The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club (Emmett). James Meyer’s survey text explores four modes of doubling: Seeing Double through repetition; Reversal, the inversion or mirroring of an image or form; Dilemma, the staging of an absurd or impossible choice; and the Divided and Doubled Self (split and shadowed selves, personae, fraternal doubles, and pairs). Thought-provoking essays by leading scholars Julia Bryan-Wilson, Tom Gunning, W.J.T. Mitchell, Hillel Schwartz, Shawn Michelle Smith, and Andrew Solomon discuss a host of topics, including the ontology and ethics of the double, the double and psychoanalysis, double consciousness, the doppelgänger in silent cinema, and the queer double.

Richly illustrated throughout, The Double is a multifaceted exploration of an enduring theme in art, from painting and sculpture to photography, film, video, and performance.

Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Exhibition Schedule
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
July 10–October 31, 2022

"An extraordinary selection of over 120 works reveals the splits, juxtapositions, reflections, and multiplications deployed by modern and contemporary artists to explore sameness and difference, the original and the copy, the self and the other."---Rachel Vogel, CAA.Reviews
"An elegant exhibition catalogue. . . . The Double remind[s] us vividly that virtually all art is inherently a self-reflection of its maker and a mirror of the times in which it was made."---Donald Brackett, Critics at Large

James Meyer is curator of modern art at the National Gallery of Art. Julia Bryan-Wilson is the Doris and Clarence Malo Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of California, Berkeley. Tom Gunning is professor emeritus of art history and cinema and media studies at the University of Chicago. W.J.T. Mitchell is professor of English, art history, and cinema studies at the University of Chicago. Hillel Schwartz is an independent scholar. Shawn Michelle Smith is professor of visual and critical studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Andrew Solomon is professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University.