Seine
Ellsworth Kelly, American, 1923 - 2015
Geography:
Made in Paris, France, Europe
Date:
1951Medium:
Oil on woodDimensions:
16 1/2 × 45 1/4 inches (41.9 × 114.9 cm)Copyright:
© Ellsworth Kelly, courtesy Matthew Marks GalleryCuratorial Department:
Contemporary ArtObject Location:
2008-228-1Credit Line:
Purchased with funds contributed in memory of Anne d'Harnoncourt and other Museum Funds, 2008
Made in Paris, France, Europe
Date:
1951Medium:
Oil on woodDimensions:
16 1/2 × 45 1/4 inches (41.9 × 114.9 cm)Copyright:
© Ellsworth Kelly, courtesy Matthew Marks GalleryCuratorial Department:
Contemporary ArtObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:2008-228-1Credit Line:
Purchased with funds contributed in memory of Anne d'Harnoncourt and other Museum Funds, 2008
Label:
Kelly’s encounter with Jean (Hans) Arp’s collages “arranged according to laws of chance” in February 1950 will have a profound impact on the work of the young artist. At that time, chance begins to play an increasingly larger role in Kelly’s art, and Seine is an early and accomplished example. In creating the painting—a representation of light flickering on the wavering surface of the Seine River translated into a geometric pattern—the artist incorporated chance into the process, pulling numbers from a box and darkening the corresponding blocks of a modular grid.
Kelly’s encounter with Jean (Hans) Arp’s collages “arranged according to laws of chance” in February 1950 will have a profound impact on the work of the young artist. At that time, chance begins to play an increasingly larger role in Kelly’s art, and Seine is an early and accomplished example. In creating the painting—a representation of light flickering on the wavering surface of the Seine River translated into a geometric pattern—the artist incorporated chance into the process, pulling numbers from a box and darkening the corresponding blocks of a modular grid.