Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler was an American painter who found a fresh way to use color in the years after Abstract Expressionism. Born in New York in 1928, she developed a technique of pouring thinned paint onto raw, unprimed canvas so the color soaked in and stained the fabric like a watercolor. The method, which she called soak-stain, gave her work a soft, glowing openness quite unlike the thick surfaces of many of her peers.

Her breakthrough painting Mountains and Sea inspired other artists to take up staining, helping launch a movement known as Color Field painting. She kept experimenting for decades, balancing loose, flowing color with a strong feel for composition. Frankenthaler is now seen as a major figure who expanded what abstract painting could look like and feel like.