Untitled 1960

Big shapes of orange, deep blue, and near black meet here with a quiet punch. A red sun rests near the middle, burning softly against a wide orange form that rises across the top like a mountain slope or a great sloping roof. Scattered across the shadowy lower half are little squares of yellow, cream, and rich red, glowing like lit windows in a landscape settling into evening. The paint sits thick and visible, giving the whole canvas a warm, made by hand feeling.

The work comes from Etel Adnan, a Lebanese-American painter who was also a well-known poet and essayist. She turned to painting later than many artists do, and she preferred to work from memory and feeling instead of copying what stood in front of her. Mount Tamalpais in California became one of her lifelong subjects, a peak she painted over and over. Adnan trusted color to do the emotional work, keeping her forms loose and unfussy.

More than a scene, this painting hands you a mood, a whole place summed up in a small family of colors. The warm oranges and cool blues rub shoulders in a way that feels calm and alive at the same time.