Mercury

About the Art

Frankenthaler was one of the first artists to stain unprimed, absorbent canvas with thinned acrylic paint colors to soak into the cloth. Adding layers of thicker paint allowed her to create richly textured compositions. This method profoundly affected Frankenthaler’s style and influenced several of her contemporaries. The colors and forms in Frankenthaler’s work float in and out of the shallow surface, creating and denying space. Made a quarter century after her first soak-stain canvas, this work demonstrates Frankenthaler’s sustained interest in the lyrical effects of pure, saturated areas of color.

FEATURED IMAGE
Helen Frankenthaler (American, 1928–2011), Mercury, 1978, acrylic on canvas, 47 3/4 x 128 inches (121.3 x 325.12 cm). Gift of Steve and Lou Mason, 2020.4