Ellsworth Kelly

Ellsworth Kelly

1923 - 2015

Artist Information


1923 – 2015

Ellsworth Kelly was a prominent American artist acclaimed for his color field and minimalist abstract paintings. He first developed the love for bright colors in a place many wouldn’t think of – the suburbs of Northern New Jersey, where he was raised and where his grandmother first introduced him to birdwatching. As a young man he served in WWII, part of a unique unit of artists dedicated to misleading the Axis forces using faux military vehicles and camouflage, the latter of which would also go on to influence his artistry. After the war, he studied art in Boston and Paris, where he developed his abstract and monochromatic techniques. He experimented with different geometric shapes and forms, which would become a signature of his artistic style.

Beyond his iconic paintings, he was also an accomplished sculpture artist, with many large-scale installations throughout the world. His works are held by notorious museums such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tate Gallery, London, and the Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid, among others.