Dark Green Painting

Gallery 269, Modern and Contemporary Art, second floor

Main Building

Dark Green Painting

c. 1948

Arshile Gorky (American, born Van Province, Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey), c. 1904–1948)

The biomorphic forms of this somber painting suggest hidden messages that resist literal decoding. The shapes seem to be freely improvised, an impression that was often conveyed by American abstract art indebted to Surrealism. However, in fact, the composition is based on a gridded preparatory drawing that meticulously plots the design.

Gallery 269, Modern and Contemporary Art, second floor

Object Details

Title:

Dark Green Painting

Date:

c. 1948

Artist:

Arshile Gorky (American, born Van Province, Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey), c. 1904–1948)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

43 3/4 × 55 1/2 inches (111.1 × 141 cm) Framed: 46 5/8 × 58 3/4 × 2 1/2 inches (118.4 × 149.2 × 6.4 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Gift (by exchange) of Mr. and Mrs. Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee and R. Sturgis and Marion B. F. Ingersoll, 1995

Accession Number:

1995-54-1

Geography:

Made in United States, North and Central America

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Gallery 269, Modern and Contemporary Art, second floor

Main Building

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