Untitled 1968

Rivers of poured color spill across this canvas, forming shapes that hover somewhere between mountains and clouds. Fiery orange pools glow against deep blacks and reds, while soft purples and greens drift along the edges like distant light. Paul Jenkins made this untitled work in 1968, and it shows off the technique he became known for. Rather than using a brush, he poured thin paint onto the canvas and tilted the surface, letting gravity carry the colors where it would. An ivory knife helped him guide the flow into these delicate veils and washes.

Jenkins was an American painter tied to Abstract Expressionism, though his work has a quieter, more dreamlike feel than the bold, energetic splashes of many artists in that group. He was drawn to light and water and the way one color melts into another, and he often called his paintings "Phenomena" to suggest something unfolding right in front of you. What each person finds here is entirely their own. A sunset over hills, a flow of lava, a curl of smoke, all of these readings are welcome. Jenkins liked that uncertainty and saw looking at his art as a gentle back and forth between the painting and whoever pauses to study it.