In the early 1950s, American artist Sam Francis was living in Paris, and created his own unique language of abstraction that gives full power to the luminosity of color. The present work has a vitality and vividness that few artists, other than Rothko, have been able to achieve, layering the brilliance of red corpuscle-like forms over veils of thinly applied blues, yellows and blacks. “Any increase in light gives an increase in darkness,” he stated. “Painting is the beauty of space and the power of containment. What we want is to make something that fills utterly the sight and can’t be used to make life only bearable… The personal lives of painters are tragic and inevitable and do not explain the artist. For the artist is his work and no longer human.” Beauty, joy, mystery are all sentiments that are experienced in Francis’s best works, such as this extremely rare painting from 1953, which comes from the eminent collection of Guy and Marie-Hélène Weill, and will be sold by Christie’s in New York in May. The work is presently on view in Christie’s preview exhibition in Hong Kong. Art to enrich the soul. #sneakpreview #samfrancis #abstractexpressionism #colortheories #parisinthefifties #red #markrothko #christies @christiesinc #postwarera @sfrieds #darkandlight #colorharmony #youreaditfirstoninstagram #anamericaninparis

A photo posted by Brett Gorvy (@brettgorvy) on Mar 31, 2016 at 5:04pm PDT