Julian Schnabel was born in New York City in 1951.
In 1965, he moved with his family to Brownsville, Texas. He attended the University of Houston from 1969-1973, receiving a BFA, and returned to New York to participate in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.
In 1978, Schnabel traveled throughout Europe and in Barcelona was particularly moved by the architecture of Antonio Gaudi, the same year he made his first plate painting, The Patients and the Doctors. His first solo painting exhibition took place at the Mary Boone Gallery, New York City, in February 1979.
Schnabels work has been exhibited all over the world. His paintings, sculptures and works on paper have been the subject of retrospective exhibitions at: The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1982; The Tate Gallery, London, 1983; The Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1987; The Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1987; The Stdtische Kunsthalle, Dsseldorf, 1987; The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1987; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 1987; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1987; Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Basel, 1989; Musee dArt Contemporain, Nimes, 1989; Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, 1989; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1989; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 1989; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1989; The Museo De Monterrey, Mexico, 1994; The Tamayo Museum, Mexico City, 1994; The Foundation Joan Miro, Barcelona, 1995; Galleria dArte Moderna di Bologna, Italy, 1996; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2004; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Palacio de Velazquez, Madrid, 2004; and Mostra dOltremare, Napoli, 2004.
His work is included in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Guggenheim Museums, New York and Bilbao; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate Gallery, London; The Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo; The Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid; The National Gallery, Washington D.C.; The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Kunst Museum, Basel; and the Foundation Musee dArt Moderne, Luxemborg.
In 1996, he wrote and directed the feature film Basquiat about fellow New York artist Jean Michel Basquiat. The film was distributed by Miramax films and was in the official selection of the 1996 Venice Film Fest.
Schnabels second film, Before Night Falls, based on the life of the late exiled Cuban novelist Reinaldo Arenas, won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Colpa Volpi for best actor for Javier Bardem at the Venice Film Festival 2000. Named to over 100 year-end top ten lists, Bardems portrayal in Before Night Falls earned him both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for best actor.
In 2007, Schnabel directed his third film, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. He was awarded “Best Director” at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globes. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is nominated for four Oscars, including “Best Director”.
Most recently, Julian Schnabel has exhibited his paintings and sculpture at the Met Life building, New York, New York, December, 2006; Julian Schnabel. Summer Pinturas 1978 2006, International Contemporary Culture Centre of San Sebastan, San Sebastan, Spain, July-October, 2007; Julian Schnabel. Paintings 1978 2006, Palazzo Venezia, Rome, Italy, May-June, 2007; Rotonda della Besana, Milan, Italy, June-September, 2007; Versions of Chuck and Other Works, Schloss Derneburg, Derneburg, Germany, June, 2007; Schnabel Asia, Beijing World Art Museum, Beijing, China, September-October, 2007; The Warwick House, Hong Kong, November, 2007; The Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China, January-February, 2007; Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea, March-April, 2007; Navigation Drawings, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, New York, January-February, 2008; The Conscious Gaze of Frightened Young Nuns, Museum of Contemporary Art, Kiasma, Finland, March, 2008, Christs Last Day, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, California, February-March, 2008.
Julian Schnabel lives and works in New York, as well as in Montauk, Long Island, and San Sebastan.
