Diver

Eric Fischl

1980

An oil-wash on paper of a diver frozen at the instant of entry, in which Fischl uses broad, wet brushstrokes to turn a private bodily moment into a tense, theatrical image.

You’re struck by the muscular torso and outstretched arms at the center and by the explosive, dripping sweeps of paint that form a towering, ambiguous splash and a murky, dreamlike setting.

Part of Fischl’s late‑1970s/1980s return to psychological figuration, this work helped revive the expressive human body in contemporary art and demonstrated how drawing with paint can convey both movement and emotional charge.

Palette

Art Terms

Drawing Oil paint Figurative Gestural Monochrome Figure/ground relationship

Exhibitions

American Drawings and Watercolors: A Selection from the Collection

1969

Naked/Nude: Contemporary Prints

1986

New Photography 5: Vincent Borrelli, Thomas Florschuetz, Mike Mandel

1989

The Nude: Thirty 20th-Century Drawings

1970