Untitled
1961
oil
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
1961
oil
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
This painting shows a simple black-and-white vertical stripe on a light gray background. The stripe is uneven—thicker at the top, thinner at the bottom—with a tiny yellow dot near its center. The edges are clean but not perfectly straight, and the colors are flat with no shading. The artist used oil paint on canvas, which lets colors blend smoothly. The stripe’s slight imperfections make it feel handmade, not mechanical. This kind of minimalism was rare in 1961, when most paintings still showed people, landscapes, or objects. Next, check out Willys de Castro to see how he played with shapes and colors in other works.
