Harbor Number 1
Agnes Martin
American, born Canada. 1912–2004
1957
An oil-on-canvas painting in which Agnes Martin pares imagery down to pale, soft-edged geometric forms—squares, planes, and discs—to suggest a quiet, meditative sense of place evoked by the title.
You first notice the near‑white, luminous ground and the barely‑there shapes that seem to float—faint diamonds, rectangles, and muted circles rendered in thin, whispery washes that blur into the canvas.
Made as Martin moved toward her signature spare abstraction, this work helped open modern painting to a contemplative minimalism that emphasizes subtlety, rhythm, and inner experience over dramatic gesture.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
49 3/4 x 40" (126.3 x 101.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Agnes Gund and Committee on Painting and Sculpture Funds
Accession
469.1996
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
