Thomas Bayrle: Fröhlich Sein! is a major solo exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, running from February 12 to May 10, 2026. It showcases approximately 55 works by the legendary Frankfurt artist Thomas Bayrle (b. 1937), primarily from the past 20 years, alongside select pieces from the 1960s–70s. Bayrle, who trained as a machine weaver and worked in commercial graphics, is renowned for his “superforms” — intricate, repetitive patterns where tiny elements (figures, objects, cars, smartphones) weave into larger composite images. These anticipate digital pixel aesthetics while critiquing modern society: the tension between individual and mass, consumption, technology, urban mobility, labor, pop culture, and ersatz religion.

The exhibition features paintings, prints, sculptures, object art, sound installations, and a video work. Highlights include reinterpretations of art-historical icons (Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Masaccio, Monet) fused with contemporary motifs like iPhones, highways, and cars, plus rhythmic pieces blending prayer loops with mechanical elements.

The title “Fröhlich Sein!” (“Be Happy!”) reflects Bayrle’s optimistic motto from his professorship at the Städelschule — a cheerful, forward-looking stance amid sharp social commentary. Housed in the former Dondorf printing factory (Schirn’s usual main building at Römerberg is undergoing restoration), the show dialogues with industrial heritage and offers a vibrant survey of Bayrle’s pulsating, networked vision of our accelerated world.

Thomas Bayrle: Fröhlich Sein! Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt at Dondorf printing factory. Frankfurt/Main (Germany), March 24, 2026.