Overview

• The Robert Wilson Arts Foundation confirmed that Wilson succumbed to a brief but severe illness on July 31, 2025, at his Watermill Center residence in New York.
• Wilson’s 1976 collaboration with composer Philip Glass on Einstein on the Beach introduced a four-act, nine-scene opera that became a landmark of experimental performance.
• His signature approach combined stark lighting, deliberate pacing and sculptural staging to transform theatrical storytelling into visual tableaux.
• In 1992 he founded the Watermill Center on Long Island as an interdisciplinary laboratory that has nurtured avant-garde artists worldwide.
• Across a five-decade career he staged pioneering works from Deafman Glance to reinterpretations of operatic classics and received honors including eight honorary doctorates and the 2023 Praemium Imperiale.