Taichung Museum of Fine Arts | The Scorpion and the Frog: Yageo Foundation Collection Exhibition

"The Scorpion and the Frog" features selected masterpieces from the YAGEO Foundation collection, framed by the binary opposition of rationality and instinct, which runs through the entire exhibition like a fault line. The exhibits either lean toward formal, intellectual, and philosophical inquiry, or focus on the body, desire, and sensuality, while some works oscillate between the two extremes, extending into multiple tensions such as the sacred and the profane, and the conscious and the unconscious. The exhibition title is taken from a Russian fable: a scorpion persuades a frog to carry it across a river, yet stings the frog halfway across, and as they sink, replies, "It makes no sense, but this is my nature." The frog symbolizes reason and morality, while the scorpion represents desire and instinct—the fable itself is a dialogue, echoing the multiple contrasts among the works in the exhibition.

The exhibits are juxtaposed across eras, genres, and mediums. The dialogues unfolding among them are sometimes intuitive, sometimes surprising, sometimes cryptic and circuitous, and sometimes self-evident; these dialogues aim to reveal the deeper meanings of the works and reinterpret them from fresh perspectives. The arrangement of works in each section oscillates between the multiple oppositions symbolized by the scorpion and the frog, preventing the exhibition narrative from becoming overly formal or rigid.

The exhibition title is a direct translation of a Russian fable about a scorpion asking a frog to carry it across a river. At first, the frog refuses out of fear of being stung, but the scorpion persuades it: if it were to sting the frog, it would sink as well, which makes no sense. When they reach the middle of the river, the frog feels a sharp pain and realizes it has been stung after all. As both sink into the water, the frog asks, "Where is the logic in this?" The scorpion replies, "There is no logic, but I cannot help myself. This is my nature."

The frog symbolizes the mind, rationality, and morality, whereas the scorpion represents desire, destiny, and above all, human nature. Starting from self-interest and self-preservation, the scorpion uses a logical argument to persuade the frog to carry it across, yet stings the frog driven by an irrepressible instinct. Much like the multiple contrasts formed by the works in this exhibition, the fable itself is a dialogue.

Juxtaposition Across Eras and Mediums: Opening New Ways of Seeing Through Fable Metaphors

This exhibition is curated by New York-based Philip Larratt-Smith. He currently serves as curator for The Easton Foundation, overseeing curatorial work related to the artistic legacy of Louise Bourgeois, and has recently organized major international exhibitions for renowned artists, such as the large-scale Louise Bourgeois retrospective at the Long Museum in Shanghai. Using the fable of "The Scorpion and the Frog" as the curatorial premise, this exhibition organizes the foundation's collection along this conceptual thread, extending to respond to various dimensions such as the sacred and the secular, the conscious and the unconscious, the realistic and the abstract, as well as the spiritual world and the sensory realm.

The exhibition title "The Scorpion and the Frog" originates from a Russian fable about a scorpion asking a frog to carry it across a river, only to sting the frog midway because it could not go against its nature, ultimately resulting in both sinking. The frog symbolizes rationality and morality, while the scorpion represents desire, destiny, and human nature. The curator uses this as the core metaphor running through the entire exhibition, breaking away from traditional display methods categorized by era, genre, or medium. Works spanning five centuries from the Renaissance to the present are interweaved and juxtaposed, re-examining the relationships among the works and guiding viewers to re-understand the multifaceted nature of humanity.

A Cross-Temporal Dialogue Between Bacon and Tintoretto, Alongside the Debut of Hockney's Double Portrait

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the juxtaposition of Study for a Pope VI (1961) by Francis Bacon, one of the most influential figure painters of the 20th century, with Portrait of Cardinal Marcantonio da Mula by Tintoretto, one of the most representative artists of the late Renaissance Venetian school, in the same gallery. Bacon reinterprets traditional religious portraits through distorted and deformed figures, presenting the subjects' internal unease, anxiety, and psychological tension, which also made his "Pope series" a major classic of 20th-century art history. Placing these two paintings, separated by four centuries, in the same room highlights Tintoretto's realistic and objective depiction of papal authority, forming a sharp contrast with the psychological tension present in Bacon's work.

Francis Bacon, Study for a Pope VI, 1961, 152.5 x 116.8 cm, oil on canvas © 2026 The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS.

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Jacopo Tintoretto, Portrait of Cardinal Marcantonio da Mula, circa 1562-63, 185 x 101.5 cm, framed 211 x 127 x 10 cm, oil on canvas.

Another crowning masterpiece in this exhibition is Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, a double portrait by the British artist David Hockney, who passed away this year. This piece is one of the representative works of Hockney's highly acclaimed double portrait series and is also an important work making its public debut in Taiwan. Hockney delicately portrays the emotional relationship between the British writer Christopher Isherwood and his partner. Employing a classical composition, the lovers in the painting are independently seated apart yet rely on each other, cleverly reflecting the exhibition's core theme of the waxing and waning of rationality and instinct.

#David Hockney, Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, 1968, 212.1 x 303.5 cm, acrylic on canvas © David Hockney. Photo credit: Jonathan Wilkinson.

World-Class Masterpieces Enter the Taichung City Museum of Art: Opening New Possibilities for Shared Art Appreciation In addition to the aforementioned works, the exhibition brings together creations by globally significant artists such as Gustav Klimt, Sanyu, Louise Bourgeois, Gerhard Richter, and Hiroshi Sugimoto, presenting the YAGEO Foundation’s significant collection spanning five centuries.

#Curator Profile

#Philip Larratt-Smith

#Writer and curator Philip Larratt-Smith is based in New York and has served as curator at The Easton Foundation since 2019, managing the artistic legacy of Louise Bourgeois. Long focused on the fields of post-war and contemporary art, he has curated solo exhibitions for major artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Cy Twombly, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Yayoi Kusama, and Andy Warhol. He has also authored extensive writings, including publications on artists such as Philip Guston, Jenny Holzer, Roni Horn, Jannis Kounellis, and Alice Neel.

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Curator Philip Larratt-Smith. Photo credit: Philip Larratt-Smith.

About the YAGEO Foundation

#The YAGEO Foundation was established in 1999 by Mr. Pierre Chen. Its collection focuses on classic masterpieces in the history of Eastern and Western art, spanning from classical to modern and contemporary periods, encompassing various mediums such as painting, sculpture, and photography. Over the years, the YAGEO Foundation has continually amassed a rich collection, broadly promoting art and culture by hosting exhibitions around the world and sponsoring various exhibition events and educational programs. In recent years, it has held exhibitions at institutions such as the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Tate Modern in London, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. Recent collection loans have been featured in institutions including the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Galerie St. Etienne in New York, and the National Portrait Gallery in London.

#The Scorpion and the Frog: YAGEO Foundation Collection Exhibition Organizer: Taichung City Government, YAGEO Foundation #Co-organizer: Taichung City Museum of Art #Exhibition Dates: November 20, 2026 to April 4, 2027

Exhibition Venues: Galleries D and E