Cool Summer

Bold pools of yellow, blue, red, and green drift across this large canvas, their edges soft and blurry as if the paint had melted right into the fabric. That effect was exactly what Helen Frankenthaler wanted. She thinned her paint and poured it onto raw, unprimed canvas, letting the colors soak in rather than sit on the surface. The result glows with a light, airy quality, and the greens spreading along the bottom feel almost like plants or grass caught in a lazy afternoon. Painted in 1962, "Cool Summer" captures her celebrated "soak-stain" method at its finest.

Frankenthaler helped shape Color Field painting, a style that grew out of the wild, gestural energy of Abstract Expressionism but moved in a calmer direction. Rather than slashing brushstrokes across the canvas, she preferred quiet washes and plenty of breathing room. Her ideas caught fire with fellow artists Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland, who adopted the technique and carried it in their own directions. Do not go hunting for a hidden scene in this work. The pleasure comes from watching the colors bleed and mingle, matching the easy, unhurried mood the title promises.