Rauschenberg

1925-2008

A native Texan, Robert Rauschenberg served in the U.S. Navy before studying art at the Kansas City Art Institute, Academie Julian in Paris, and Black Mountain College in North Carolina. In 1949 he moved to New York City and challenged the status quo with his Combines. Rauschenberg continued to break the mold throughout his career.

News

Autobiography install

Installation view of Autobiography and Other Stories, fall 2025–spring 2026. From left: Mirthday Man II (Ceramic) (1998), Dusky Gaze (1969), Dylaby (1962). Photo: Ron Amstutz

Inside 381 Lafayette: Rauschenberg’s New York Home and Studio Sixty Years On

2026 marks approximately sixty years since Robert Rauschenberg moved into his NoHo residence and studio, the last he would maintain in New York City and which today serves as the headquarters of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

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381 facade

The purchase in 1965 of the five-story townhouse, constructed as a...

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Menil Collection installation

Robert Rauschenberg: Fabric Works of the 1970s at The Menil Collection

Photo credit: Paul Hester / The Menil Collection

From Research to Runway: A Centennial Year in Review

Dear Friends of the Rauschenberg Foundation,

As we bid farewell to 2025, we reflect on a remarkable milestone for the Foundation: the centennial year of Robert Rauschenberg’s birth. It has been an extraordinary season of creativity, connection, and celebration, as the world came together to honor the...

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calendar page

Rauschenberg’s 1982 calendar, August page (detail)

All the Small Things: Receipts and Ephemera in the RRF Archives

At the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Archives, sometimes the smallest items open the biggest doors. As researchers’ primary point of access to the most comprehensive trove of documentation about the artist, the Robert Rauschenberg Papers provide a source of endless intrigue and potential. This...

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Artwork

Artwork

Art & Archives

Working in a wide range of materials, techniques, and disciplines, Rauschenberg is celebrated as a forerunner for nearly every art movement since Abstract Expressionism. Become acquainted with Rauschenberg's art and life through highlights from his career and the Foundation's archives.

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Artist

Oral History

The Robert Rauschenberg Oral History Project, undertaken in collaboration with INCITE/Columbia Center for Oral History Research, is a collection of firsthand accounts, as told by the artist's family, friends, and many collaborators. To date, we have released thirty-three oral histories to the public.

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Archives

Collections

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Archives contain the most comprehensive body of information on the artist’s life and career. This rich resource includes the artist’s personal writings, sketches, correspondence, and audiovisual material, as well as documentary photographs and records from his collaborators.  

view of an exhibition in a gallery

Programs

Collaborations

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation supports programs for artists, initiatives, and institutions that embody the same innovative, inclusive, and multidisciplinary approach that Rauschenberg exemplified in both his art and philanthropic endeavors.

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Residency

Experimentation

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation hosts residencies at the Foundation’s New York headquarters and at the artist’s former Captiva, Florida home and studio. These residencies are designed to provide time and space for research and artistic experimentation across the disciplines.

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Foundation

Mission and Vision

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation was founded by the artist in 1990, and transitioned to its current mission in 2012 – to foster the artistic and philanthropic legacy of Robert Rauschenberg through scholarship, grants, and a residency program.