My condolences to the family and friends of artist Helen Frankenthaler, who passed away right after Christmas in her home in Darien, Connecticut at the age of 83.
Encountering Frankenthaler's masterpiece Mountains and Sea at the MOMA in the summer of 1989 was a keystone event in my life. Returning to the museum as the exhibition was being dismantled, I had the chance to stand alone in the gallery with the painting, and for the first time experienced a visceral, awe inspiring connection with a work of art.
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| Mountains and Sea, 1952 - National Gallery |
Here is great video introduction to Frankenthaler and her art. Art history being what it is, Frankenthaler is often lost in the transition from the revolutionary Abstract Expressionists, including her shaman Jackson Pollack, and the Color Field painters. Atlantans can experience her work in the painting Sagittarius in the permanent collection of the High Museum.