For Bess, to be an artist was to be “a conduit through which this thing, whatever it was, flowed.” His paintings—in which symbols appear atop expanses of color—were the direct result of visions he experienced; by recording them, he could begin to parse their meanings. Both of these paintings feature a curved line crossed by small marks: In Number 40, this sign resembles a scar, while in Untitled, it evokes a railroad track. To catalogue the significance of such elements, Bess made a “Primer of Basic Primordial Symbolism,” a key in which he assigned associations to various shapes and colors.

Gallery label from

2025

Medium Oil on canvas with wood frame
Dimensions 10 1/2 x 13 1/2" (26.7 x 34.3 cm)
Credit Gift of Betty Parsons
Object number 97.1982
Department Painting & Sculpture

Explore more

All works by Forrest Bess →

Audio

Audio from the playlist Collection 1950s–1970s

From MoMA Design Store

Installation views

We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.

How we identified these works
In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].
Licensing
To reproduce installation views, please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations). You will need to include the object identification number found in the caption.
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].

Licensing

Artwork or archival images

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

Audio and film clips

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.

Text from a publication or the archives

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.