As Wols: Retrospective will make clear, the draftsman, painter and photographer known as Wols (1913–1951) was one of the most ingenious and influential figures to emerge in postwar Europe. He was, along with Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Soulages and Georges Mathieu, a leading figure in Tachisme, a movement in painting considered to be the European equivalent of American Abstract Expressionism.

Derived from the French word tache, meaning stain, Tachisme was an outgrowth of the larger movement known as Art Informel, or "art without form," emphasizing free lines and forms that flow spontaneously from the unconscious.

Organized by Menil Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Toby Kamps in collaboration with noted Wols scholar Ewald Rathke and the Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany, Wols: Retrospective will be on view through Jan. 12, 2014.

A panel discussion at 6 p.m. will precede the public reception, which is held from 7-9 p.m.