Photo courtesy the artist.
Since 1989, Praemium Imperiale Awards has recognized outstanding artists in the categories of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, and Theatre/Film, covering fields of achievement not represented by the Nobel Prizes. One of the most prominent and iconic sculptors and land artists of our time, Andy Goldsworthy has gained an unparalleled reputation for his explorations of process, temporality, and the relationship between humans and the land, working across sculptures, installations, photographs, and videos. This prestigious achievement follows Goldsworthy’s receipt of the Hugo Burge Foundation’s inaugural Dent in the Universe Award and honors at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s Annual Gala, both in 2026.
Over the past five decades, Goldsworthy has realized celebrated site-specific installations and public commissions across multiple continents, including Storm King Wall at the Storm King Art Center, New York, NY; Garden of Stones at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, NY; Roof at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Stone Sea Passage, at Mona—Museum of New and Old Art, Tasmania, Australia; and Hanging Stones (2018-ongoing), at Rosedale Abbey, North Yorkshire, UK, among many others. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to six such works: Spire, Wood Line, Tree Fall and Earth Wall in the Presidio of San Francisco; Drawn Stone at the de Young Museum; and Stone River at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Recent exhibitions of his work include the critically acclaimed retrospective Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years (2025), presented by the National Galleries Scotland in Edinburgh in 2025, and Andy Goldsworthy: Red Flags (2026), presented by FOR-SITE and Fort Mason Art with support from Haines Gallery.
Learn more at praemiumimperiale.org.
