“I’d start with a red square,” Etel Adnan once explained of her process. “And this red square called for the gestures that followed. That’s how it is. You make a mark, and the mark creates a situation, and this situation calls for other gestures.” This intuitive approach to making a painting—in which the artist’s experiences produce sensations that in turn inspire form—reflects Adnan’s training as a philosopher and her work as a poet.

Gallery label from

2025

Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 21 1/4 x 22 5/8" (54 × 57.5 cm)
Credit Gift of The Riklis Collection of McCrory Corporation and Mrs. Cornelius J. Sullivan Fund (both by exchange)
Object number 996.2015
Department Painting & Sculpture

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