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‘Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110’
1971 Acrylic with pencil and charcoal on canvas 82 x 114 inches
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Robert Motherwell was an American artist, known for his abstract expressionist paintings and prints. Motherwell was part of the New York School, which included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning and Philip Guston.

Personage (selfportrait)
1943 Paper collage, gouache, and ink on board 40 7/8 x 25 15/16 inches (103.8 x 65.9 cm)
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

Motherwell was born in Aberdeen, Washington but spent much of his childhood in San Francisco. Motherwell excelled as an academic and attended the prestigious, Stanford University in California. Motherwell earned his Bachelor’s degree in philosophy, and enrolled in a Ph. D. program at Harvard, which he discontinued after one year.

Blue Air
1946 Oil and sand on paperboard mounted on paperboard 41 1/2 X 28 3/8 IN. (105.3 X 72.0 CM.)

After Motherwell abandoned his philosophy studies, he decided to immerse himself in art and art history. Motherwell moved to New York City and took art courses as Columbia University under the tutelage of Meyer Shapiro. While Motherwell was mainly based out of New York, he frequented the Provincetown artist colony in Massachusetts, where he instructed such artists as Cy Twombly.

Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 70
1961 Oil on canvas 69 x 114 in. (175.3 x 289.6 cm) The Little Spanish Prison
1941-44 Oil on canvas, 27 1/4 x 17 1/8″ (69.2 x 43.5 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, New York

It was in New York that Motherwell joined the circle of abstract expressionists. Motherwell was an essential addition to the group, due to ability to write and speak about the work they were creating. Motherwell’s collected writings are essential to study of the abstract expressionist movement. Motherwell contributed to several publications, including the surrealist magazine VVV, and the Dyn.

Western Air
1946-47 Oil and sand on canvas 6′ x 54″ (182.9 x 137.2 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, New York Personage, with Yellow Ochre and White
1947 Oil on canvas 6′ x 54″ (182.8 x 137 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, New York Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 54
1957-61 Oil on canvas 70″ x 7′ 6 1/4″ (178 x 229 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, New York Untitled from Madrid Suite
1965-66 One from a portfolio of ten lithographs, composition 19 13/16 x 25 3/4″ (50.3 x 65.4 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, New York New England Elegy 2
1966 Synthetic polymer paint on canvas 6′ 10″ x 11′ 7″ (208.3 x 351.1 cm) Open Number 24 in Variations of Orange
1968 Synthetic polymer paint and charcoal on canvas 6′ 9″ x 9′ 7 1/8″ (205.6 x 292.3 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, New York Paris Review
1967 Silkscreen 34 1/2 x 26″ (85.2 x 66.0 cm)

Motherwell’s paintings are now in major modern art collections across the United States. Do you think you own an abstract expressionist painting by Robert Motherwell? Contact us. We are the Motherwell experts.