I think by drawing, so I’ll draw or diagram everything from a piece of furniture to a stage gesture. I understand things best when they’re in graphics, not words.

(Robert Wilson)

These drawings have never been written about before. This exhibition marks the first time they are shown publicly.

They are inseparable from Pessoa, one of Robert’s most recent theatre productions, and reveal the method that underpins all of his theatrical work. Robert does not begin with text. He begins with drawing. Before a single word is spoken or a sound is added, the production is constructed visually: actors are staged in silence, guided by drawings and movement rehearsals. Only later do sound and language enter the work. Image and gesture come first.

Drawing, for Robert, is a way of thinking. He has described his process simply: “I think by drawing, so I’ll draw or diagram everything from a piece of furniture to a stage gesture. I understand things best when they’re in graphics, not words.” The drawings function as both score and memory, mapping the production across time. He draws the theatre piece before it happens (as projection), while it is happening (as observation), and after it has passed (as recollection).

Pessoa occupies all three temporal states at once. Made during the creation of the production itself, these drawings carry recurring images—sailboats, exploding tables, acts of murder, eyeglasses, hats—drawn from Robert’s sustained engagement with the life and writing of Fernando Pessoa. They do not illustrate the performance so much as think alongside it. What is shown here is not a record of theatre, but its visual genesis: a space where thought, movement, and time are held together through drawing.