Big Red
Sam Francis
American, 1923–1994
Paris 1953
An oil on canvas from 1953 in which Sam Francis piled luminous, petal-like red marks and flowing drips into a vibrating, all-over field to explore color, light, and space.
Seen from afar it reads as a monumental red surface, but up close the rounded marks bleed and reveal flashes of blue and yellow and vertical drips that give the painting a shimmering, atmospheric depth and movement.
Straddling Abstract Expressionist gesture and Color Field lyricism, this work exemplifies Francis’s experiments with translucent, poured pigment that shifted postwar painting toward color as a spatial and emotional force.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
10' x 6' 4 1/4" (303.2 x 194 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Rockefeller
Accession
5.1958
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
