Katharina Grosse: I Set Out, I Walked Fast – New Exhibition at the White Cube
Known for her large-scale paintings that create an immersive visual experience, German visual artist, Katharina Grosse, is back in London. Her new exhibition: ‘I Set Out, I Walked Fast’ draws inspiration from Emily Brontë’s famous novel, Jane Eyre (1847).
@urbanadventurerldn [BLOG POST IN BIO] New contemporary art exhibition at @White Cube 🎨 Katharina Grosse: ‘I Set Out, I Walked Fast’ Katharina Grosse is a German visual artist known for her large-scale paintings that create an immersive visual experience 🎨🖌️ The exhibition spans through three spaces where the individual works function as ‘plot’ points in a huge web where everything is connected. 📍Where White Cube | 144-152, Bermondsey St, London SE1 3TQ (Nearest station is London Bridge) 🗓️ When 22nd – 31st May 2026 🕰️ Opening Hours Mon: CLOSED Tue – Sat: 10am – 6pm Sun: 12pm – 6pm 🎟️ Tickets FREE | NO booking required #artexhibition #contemporaryart #whitecube #contemporaryartist #CapCut
‘I Set Out, I Walked Fast’
Photo: Urban Adventurer
Katharina Grosse’s new exhibition at White Cube is her first major UK representation since her exhibition at the former Hoxton Square location in 2002.
The exhibition’s title ‘I Set Out, I Walked Fast’ is inspired by Emily Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre (1847). As Grosse re-read the novel at her New Zealand studio, she struck by Jane’s continuous movement and action as a woman at her time. In the novel nothing stops Jane from constantly moving which propels the storyline forward.
Similarly, Grosse brings her old and new paintings together to create one single interconnected environment, allowing the viewer to travel through time and space.
The exhibition spans through three spaces where the individual works function as ‘plot’ points in a huge web where everything is connected.
Large-Scale Installations Painted In-Situ
Photo: Urban Adventurer
In the North Gallery visitors find themselves in the middle of a swirling and spiralling universe of colours. Colours leave the frames of their canvases to pour onto the walls, the columns and even the floor.
Photo: Urban Adventurer
Piles of soil create an uneven, unpredictable terrain, painted over with vibrant red, yellow, purple and blue to blend into the beautiful chaos of colours. The parts of the walls and the columns that left white create a sharp contrast with the rainbow dreamlike terrain.
The spray gun allows Grosse to extend her body and reach out to all dimension as far as her eyes can see.
The colours move freely on the different surfaces, connecting canvas and architecture, walls, columns, floor and ceiling. The contours of the objects are not boundaries, instead they’re connections that work as a bridge among objects.
Photo: Urban Adventurer
The next room is showcasing a series of new paintings created in Grosse’s New Zealand studio.
During the creation process, Grosse covered one half of the canvases and painted two different pictures that she later blended together by softening the edges between the two.
Photo: Urban Adventurer
The paintings are inspired by the dramatic changes of natural elements, rain, burning sun, and the force of wind Grosse experienced while in New Zealand.
Photo: Urban Adventurer
The South gallery is showcasing a selection of works from the artist’s archive, including never-before-exhibited landscapes she created 15 years apart or repurposed from previous projects.
Many of those paintings are created in 2015 and are untitled.
Photo: Urban Adventurer
Katharina Grosse sees painting as an open system, rather than a predetermined structure. Her works being exhibited at the White Cube were created under different conditions at different periods of the artist’s life. In the gallery, the artworks appear on different surfaces and rooms, yet they are interconnected and in constant negotiation with one another.
Practical Info
Photo: Urban Adventurer
Address
White Cube | 144-152, Bermondsey St, London SE1 3TQ
(Nearest station is London Bridge)
Opening Times
22nd – 31st May 2026
Mon: CLOSED
Tue – Sat: 10am – 6pm
Sun: 12pm – 6pm
Tickets
FREE | NO booking required
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