Phenomena Full Round

Rivers of pink, orange, green, and yellow pour across this canvas as if they were caught mid-flow. Paul Jenkins, an American painter, made his name with an unusual method. Rather than dragging a brush over the surface, he poured thin, watery paint onto the canvas and tilted it so the colors ran where he wanted them. An ivory knife helped him steer the streams, but he let gravity and a bit of luck shape the rest. The finished painting almost seems to still be in motion.

Titled Phenomena Full Round, this piece belongs to a large group of works Jenkins named after the same word. He was drawn to natural forces such as light, water, and weather, and "Phenomena" captured that curiosity. Working in the mid-1900s, he was linked to the Abstract Expressionists, though his glowing, fluid paintings felt softer and more delicate than the heavy, gestural strokes of many artists around him. Some people see a feather in these shapes, others a flame or a bird lifting into the air. Jenkins liked that there was no single answer and wanted each person to read the colors in their own way.