Following the closure of one of the world’s most important permanent exhibition galleries – the Hallen für Neue Kunst (Halls for New Art), in Schaffhausen, Switzerland – the work of Europe, and the world’s, most tantalizing minimalist artists will find refuge in New York.

The Dia Art Foundation, which hones in on artists of the 60s and 70s, will become the first American survey to showcase the work of Robert Ryman in more than two decades. Ryman’s penchant for white-on-white paintings, the New York Times writes, are among the most important works of the postwar period.

“Robert Ryman: Real Light, 1958-2007,” the title of the seven-month long exhibition, will run from December 9 to June 16, 2016 at the Dia’s gallery space on West 22 Street in Chelsea. The NYT notes it will mark the first expansive look at Ryman’s work in the USA since his 1993 retrospective at the MoMA. Jessica Morgan, the director of Dia, told the Times, “We had a chance to respond very quickly to make this happen,” adding, “there’s a very healthy conversation that’s going on right now in New York about painting but Ryman often doesn’t seem to be a part of those conversations about experimental approaches to painting, where he’s played a big role. And it was very important for me to try to reinsert him into that discussion.”

Morgan added, “I really feel that his work is one of those bodies of paintings and sculpture that you need to see in quantity, to get a sense of the rhythm and the seriality and the differences amid the similarities. There’s also a lot of humor and playfulness in the work that gets lost if you don’t have access to how it works together, which I really hope this show will give.”