Paul Gauguin's "Spirit of the Dead Watching."
Paul Gauguin’s “Spirit of the Dead Watching.”

Roy Lichtenstein's "Head--Red and Yellow."
Roy Lichtenstein’s “Head–Red and Yellow.”
Paul Gauguin’s “Spirit of the Dead Watching.”

Beginning Saturday, the San Diego Museum of Art will host the only West Coast stop for an exhibit of 70-plus works by 20th century icons from Gauguin to Warhol.

The touring exhibit from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, traces the movements that shaped the course of modern art from the late 19th century to the present. On display will be works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe, Salvador Dalí and Frida Kahlo, among many others.

The show begins with the late 1800s, featuring milestones of Post-Impressionism by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, and extends to the mid 20th century in America with Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell, and ends with prominent Pop artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.

The exhibit opens with a members-only preview on Friday an continues through Jan. 27 at the museum in Balboa Park.

Chris Jennewein is Editor & Publisher of Times of San Diego.