Spatial Concept: Expectations

Lucio Fontana

1959

A muted gray field of synthetic polymer paint on slashed burlap, pierced by two deliberate vertical cuts that turn the painted surface into an opening onto real space.

You first register the coarse, weathered gray weave, then the two narrow, slightly curved knife-like slashes—off-center and deep—whose dark voids give the otherwise quiet surface a taut, surgical presence.

A key work of Fontana's Spatialist project, it literally breaks the picture plane to insist on real space, influencing later minimalist, conceptual, and installation practices.

Palette

Art Terms

Acrylic paint Painting Monochrome Abstraction Avant-garde Minimalism Conceptual art Textile

Exhibitions

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Painting and Sculpture

1984

Painting and Sculpture from the Museum Collection

1969

Large-Scale Modern Paintings

1947

Preliminary Drawings

1970