Factum II
Robert Rauschenberg
American, 1925–2008
1957
A mixed-media "combine" by Robert Rauschenberg that brings oil, ink, pencil, crayon and pasted papers—newspapers, photographs and printed reproductions—onto canvas to turn ordinary fragments into a single painterly field.
You first notice a neutral, worn ground punctuated by drifting blocks of paper, a smeared blue swoop and dripping strokes of red and white that make the eye move like a detective across calendars, a stereograph and a pair of trees, hinting at time and memory rather than a single scene.
Factum II exemplifies Rauschenberg’s Combines, collapsing the boundary between painting and everyday life and helping to open modern art to found materials and popular imagery—paving the way for Pop art and later mixed-media practices.
Medium
Oil, ink, pencil, crayon, paper, fabric, newspaper, printed reproductions, and painted paper on canvas
Dimensions
61 3/8 x 35 1/2" (155.9 x 90.2 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase and an anonymous gift and Louise Reinhardt Smith Bequest (both by exchange)
Accession
206.1999
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
