Untitled

Untitled

Barnett Newman

1948

oil

From the collection of Museum of Modern Art

About this work

This painting is three tall, narrow panels side by side. The left and right ones are a flat, warm brown. The middle one is a pale yellow with a single thin, dark vertical line running down it—like a faint shadow or a crack. The edges look rough, almost unfinished. The artist left the middle panel mostly empty except for that one line. It feels quiet, like a pause between two solid colors. Look up glazing to see how artists build up layers of thin paint.

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