Sam Francis American, 1923-1994

Abstract Expressionist artist Sam Francis saturated parts of his canvases with splashes and drips of paint, emphasizing the luminous voids he left uncovered. This contrast between vibrant color palettes and austere patches of white emphasized relationships of space, color, and light. Throughout his lifetime, Francis traveled extensively and drew inspiration from influences that ranged from Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” to Jungian psychology and the aesthetics of Japanese Zen Buddhism.

He has been the subject of dozens of exhibitions at major institutions and, in 1964, he featured at the 32nd Venice Biennale and Documenta 3. Today, Francis is represented in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Kunstmuseum Basel, among other institutions (via Artsy).