1944-N No. 2 (Red flash on a black field)

The Museum of Modern Art, New York (the USA).

Canvas, oil.

One of the first works in which real, recognizable objects are absent, and the surface is covered with solid colours using a palette knife. The picture has no name, like all abstract works of Clyfford Still. It is made in dark colours and resembles a flash of lightning in the night sky, where the dynamic relationship between vertical and horizontal forms creates a noticeable tension. The painting was created together with another work, “944-N No. 1,” which has the same colour palette and surface structure. Throughout his career, Clifford Still repeatedly returned to the flash motive – it is the most repeated motive in his work.