Choreographers look everywhere for inspiration—nature, literature, architecture, and even other artists. From great masters of the past to some of today’s most unique voices, visual art is being transformed into moving art at ballet companies across the nation this season. Here is a quick rundown of just a few of the ballets inspired by visual artists both past and present.
Shepard Fairey
Before a background dominated by a mandala-like emblem, the dancers in Heatscape move through steps and pairings that shimmer like a mirage, there one moment and gone the next. Inspired by Miami’s Wynwood area—home of Wynwood Walls, a globally renowned street art museum—this energetic Justin Peck ballet features intricate patterns and dynamic movements, mirroring the bold backdrop designed and painted by artist Shepard Fairey. You may not know Fairey’s name, but you are most likely familiar with his work. Perhaps most famous for this 2008 Obama “Hope” poster, he has also created major public murals across the globe, from South Africa and Singapore to Paris and London.
New York City Ballet performs Heatscape Sep 25–Oct 5 & Apr 29–May 26 >>
Natalie Frank
A retelling of three Brothers Grimm fairytales (“The Frog King,” “Snow White,” and “The Juniper Tree”), Grimm Tales “is a true marriage of artistic mediums,” says Ballet Austin Artistic Director Stephen Mills. It brings together Mills’ unique choreographic voice with the visceral, magical realist aesthetic of feminist painter—and Austin local—Natalie Frank. Frank is well-versed in the darker side of fairytales, having created more than 75 gouache and chalk pastel drawings exploring their characters and themes.
“When Natalie and I began discussing this project, we were drawn to the complicated beauty of these stories, especially as seen through a feminist lens,” says Mills. “Natalie’s work has always been fearless in that way—brilliant, unflinching, and deeply human. Bringing her drawings to life through dance has been one of the most creatively rewarding experiences of my career.”
Agnes Martin
It was an artist’s voice, not their visual work, that inspired choreographer Alexei Ratmansky’s Voices. Curated from Peter Ablinger’s much longer song cycle Voices and Piano, this ballet features the voices of six unique female artists of many different mediums: Bonnie Barnett, Forough Farrokhzad, Setsuko Hara, Nina Simone, Gjendine Slålien, and Agnes Martin. Martin (1912–2004) was an American abstract painter whose work is known for its grids, lines, and the subtle use of color. Deceptively simple, her work has a transcendent, spiritual quality. “Painters can paint about painting,” you hear Martin say as ten dancers fill the stage with grid-like movements and tableaux at the ballet’s finale, “but my painting is about meaning,”
New York City Ballet performs Voices Oct 9–12 & Apr 22–May 8 >>
Henri Matisse
When choreographing a new work for Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2008, choreographer Susan Stroman and costume designer William Ivey Long wanted a visual way to match the jazzy, improvisational feel of Paul Desmond’s music. They turned to French artist Henri Matisse (1869–1954), a Post-Impressionist painter known for his bold use of color. Matisse played around with cut paper collages throughout most of his career, even designing some for the sets and costumes of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But it was in 1941, when he was recovering from abdominal cancer, that Matisse turned to the medium in earnest. “Utilizing this method and combining the excitingly vibrant color plates with his own written thoughts, he produced the book Jazz,” says Stroman. “The end result looked like musical improvisation—indeed Matisse felt it was the visual counterpart to jazz music.”
William Ivey Long took Matisse’s vibrant purples, blues, red, and yellows for the female dancers’ costumes, leaving the male dancers in black with a Jazz-inspired star on their lapels. “This was one of those rare moments when everything I loved in art came together—jazz music, visual arts, and an exemplary ballet company,” says Stroman.
Saint Louis Ballet performs Take Five . . . More Or Less Oct 11 & 12 >>
Beal, Woodbury & Greacen
You can catch a peek at the inspiration then watch the new ballet creation this fall at Ballet RI. To mark the opening of the Westerly Museum of American Impressionism, three choreographers each selected a painting from the collection to inspire a new work. Former Boston Ballet principal dancer John Lam chose Gifford Beal’s The Garden Party, with its “endless possibilities of how movement can be dictated by wind.” Yury Yanowsky, Ballet RI’s resident choreographer, selected Charles H. Woodbury’s reflective Bathers at Perkins Cove while former Kansas City Ballet dancer Emily Mistretta picked Edmund Greacen’s A Day At The Beach for its delicate brushwork and dreamlike quality. “What a gift, says Ballet RI’s Artistic Executive Director Kathleen Breen Combes, “Using movement and painting to inspire something new.”
Frida Kahlo
Choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s critically acclaimed one-act and full-length ballets about Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–54) take to the stage again in Spring 2026, performed by Houston Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. In both iterations, Ochoa tells the story of the artist’s life—the bus accident that left her in pain, her tumultuous relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera, and the solace that her art provided. Populating the world are many of Kahlo’s abstract creations, including the “Frida Men,” ten male dancers in vivid colors and unique headdresses taken from Kahlo’s self-portraits.
Houston Ballet performs Broken Wings Mar 12–22 >>
Atlanta Ballet performs Frida May 8–10 >>
Georgia O’Keeffe
American painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) is revered for her series of drawings and paintings focused on one object, be it a calla lily, a cloud, or a seashell. But it’s O’Keeffe’s Patio Door series—more than 20 paintings exploring the geometry and shadow play of a doorway at her Abiquiú house—that inspired choreographer Jessica Lang’s radiant ballet, Her Door to the Sky. Lang was intrigued by O’Keeffe’s fascination with the door (it’s the reason she bought the house) and the idea of home and space explored in the paintings. A simple backdrop and costumes drenched in the colors of O’Keeffe’s work make for a moving ballet.
Featured Image: Frida by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor. Courtesy of Ballet Arizona.
Fairey Image: Miami City Ballet in Heatscape. Photo by Alexander Iziliaev.
Frank Image: Ballet Austin in Grimm Tales. Photo by Anne Marie Bloodgood.
Martin Image: Sara Mearns and New York City Ballet in Alexei Ratmansky’s Voices. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Matisse Image: Saint Louis Ballet dancers Logan McIntosh, Lori Wilson, and Jared Cordova. Photo by Pratt Kreidich.
Beal, Woodbury & Greacen Image: Choreographers Yury Yanowsky and Emily Mistretta at the Westerly Museum of American Impressionism. Photo Courtesy of Ballet RI.
Kahlo Image: Frida by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor. Courtesy of Ballet Arizona.
O’Keeffe Image: Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers Cecilia Iliesiu, Dylan Wald, and Ryan Cardea in Jessica Lang’s Her Door to the Sky. Photo © Angela Sterling.
