Tony Bechara (Puerto Rican, 1942–2025). Grey Tondo II, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 48 in. Hand-signed by artist, signed and dated verso, © Estate of Tony Bechara, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
Curator-Led Tour | Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds
Open to All, With Executive Director Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Ph.D., and Associate Curator Kaitlin Halloran
June 28, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Free for Members | $10 Guests of Member | $15 for Resident Benefits PassHolders | $30 Adults | Free for Students & Children
As we celebrate the opening of Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds, join us for a special tour of the exhibition led by Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Ph.D., Executive Director, and Kaitlin Halloran, Associate Curator and Publications Manager.
Advance registration is recommended. Limited spaces will be available at the door.
About the Exhibition
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is the first-ever comprehensive survey of Puerto Rican artist Tony Bechara, including works from his later years and exploring his career-long dedication to color theory and abstraction. Born in Puerto Rico and based in New York City, Bechara (1942–2025) drew on his bilingual and bicultural upbringing, his studies in law and international relations, his long stays in Europe and the Hamptons, and his characteristic, enduring curiosity to become a man of many worlds—seeking light and illumination in far corners of the globe and across its diverse cultures.
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is part of the Museum’s USA250: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, a year-long program organized in response to the United States’ semiquincentennial in 2026. Eliciting a dialogue with the Declaration of Independence’s assertion of “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our inalienable rights, An Artist of Many Worlds proposes that Bechara’s contributions as a Latino/Hispanic artist to American culture—and his own “pursuit of happiness”—have yielded a language of both self-determination and inclusion. Bechara’s unifying pictorial strategy understood as an expression of the pursuit of happiness, offers a personal yet prophetic visual model for inclusion and collective possibility—one that strengthens the broader fabric of American art and culture.
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is co-organized by Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Ph.D., Executive Director and Kaitlin Halloran, Associate Curator and Publications Manager.
Exhibition Support
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of The Estate of Tony Bechara; Steven Pesner in memory of his wife Michèle and his friend Tony Bechara; Lisson Gallery; Maria Eugenia Maury; Karla Harwich; Luis A. Miranda Jr.; Dr. Monica Ramirez-Montagut; Dr. Teresa Ramirez-Montagut and Annaliese Pew; Francisco ‘Frankie’ Bechara and family; and Warren James.
The Parrish Art Museum’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and by the property taxpayers from the Southampton Union Free School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.
Curator-Led Tour | Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds
Open to All, With Executive Director Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Ph.D., and Associate Curator Kaitlin Halloran
June 28, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Free for Members | $10 Guests of Member | $15 for Resident Benefits PassHolders | $30 Adults | Free for Students & Children
As we celebrate the opening of Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds, join us for a special tour of the exhibition led by Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Ph.D., Executive Director, and Kaitlin Halloran, Associate Curator and Publications Manager.
Advance registration is recommended. Limited spaces will be available at the door.
About the Exhibition
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is the first-ever comprehensive survey of Puerto Rican artist Tony Bechara, including works from his later years and exploring his career-long dedication to color theory and abstraction. Born in Puerto Rico and based in New York City, Bechara (1942–2025) drew on his bilingual and bicultural upbringing, his studies in law and international relations, his long stays in Europe and the Hamptons, and his characteristic, enduring curiosity to become a man of many worlds—seeking light and illumination in far corners of the globe and across its diverse cultures.
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is part of the Museum’s USA250: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, a year-long program organized in response to the United States’ semiquincentennial in 2026. Eliciting a dialogue with the Declaration of Independence’s assertion of “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our inalienable rights, An Artist of Many Worlds proposes that Bechara’s contributions as a Latino/Hispanic artist to American culture—and his own “pursuit of happiness”—have yielded a language of both self-determination and inclusion. Bechara’s unifying pictorial strategy understood as an expression of the pursuit of happiness, offers a personal yet prophetic visual model for inclusion and collective possibility—one that strengthens the broader fabric of American art and culture.
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is co-organized by Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Ph.D., Executive Director and Kaitlin Halloran, Associate Curator and Publications Manager.
Exhibition Support
Tony Bechara: An Artist of Many Worlds is made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of The Estate of Tony Bechara; Steven Pesner in memory of his wife Michèle and his friend Tony Bechara; Lisson Gallery; Maria Eugenia Maury; Karla Harwich; Luis A. Miranda Jr.; Dr. Monica Ramirez-Montagut; Dr. Teresa Ramirez-Montagut and Annaliese Pew; Francisco ‘Frankie’ Bechara and family; and Warren James.
The Parrish Art Museum’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and by the property taxpayers from the Southampton Union Free School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.
