Cite

The Museum of Modern Art of San Francisco (the USA).

Wood, paper, oil.

In his minimalist works, Ellsworth Kelly tried to reduce the importance of subjective factors and personal preferences of the performer. To do this, he used the element of chance, which he began to apply under the influence of Jean Arp and John Cage even during his stay in Paris after participating in the war. The painting “Cite” consists of 20 identical wooden rectangular elements of white colour, on which the artist applied longitudinal black stripes with a wide brush. Having mixed these rectangles, he connected them in an arbitrary order, while maintaining the horizontal direction of the strokes. The idea of creating this large-scale work came to Ellsworth Kelly in a dream; before painting it, the artist made several sketches on paper, cutting it into pieces, mixing and glueing it on a cardboard base like a collage.