Icarus

This explosive canvas bursts with tangled forms in hot pinks, oranges, and reds, all swirling together in a dense, energetic mass. Lee Krasner created this work during a pivotal period in the 1960s when she was moving away from her earlier, more controlled style toward something wilder and more instinctive. The title references the Greek myth of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and fell to earth, and you can almost feel that sense of chaotic movement and falling in the turbulent brushwork.

Krasner was a major figure in Abstract Expressionism, though she often worked in the shadow of her famous husband, Jackson Pollock. After his death, her work became increasingly bold and gestural, with paintings like this one showing her complete confidence in letting paint and emotion take over the canvas. The way the forms seem to twist and tumble across the surface captures both the tragedy and the beauty of Icarus's doomed flight, all rendered in colors that suggest both fire and flesh.