Through Blue
By Lee Krasner, 1963
Lee Krasner painted "Through Blue" in 1963, a time when she was working big and experimenting freely with color. The canvas hums with tangled lines and scattered patches of blue, tan, and white that twist across the surface with no clear starting point. Your gaze keeps drifting from place to place, and that restless movement is the whole idea. The rhythm feels alive, a little like wind stirring through tall grass or a stream of thoughts running through a busy mind.
A central figure in Abstract Expressionism, Krasner built her art around gesture and feeling rather than pictures of real things. She was married to Jackson Pollock, and for a long stretch her work sat in the shadow of his fame. His death in 1956 marked a turning point, and she poured herself into some of her boldest and most self-assured paintings. This canvas carries that confidence, with its lively marks and overlapping shapes that manage to feel both untamed and carefully arranged.
The title points to the way blue threads through the whole composition, tying the busy field together. Instead of taking over, it slips between the other strokes, adding depth and a bit of open space to breathe. Patience pays off here, since small details keep surfacing the longer your eyes wander across it.