Robert Motherwell

(American, 1915–1991)

Robert Motherwell was an American artist and seminal Abstract Expressionist painter. Influenced by the automatic writing and drawing prescribed by the Surrealists, Motherwell’s practice was characterized by an intuitive approach to painting. He is perhaps best known for his iconic Elegy to the Spanish Republic series, which consists of 150 variants of black forms on white backgrounds. “Painting is a medium in which the mind can actualize itself; it is a medium of thought,” he once reflected. “Thus painting, like music, tends to become its own content.” Born on January 24, 1915 in Aberdeen, WA, Motherwell moved to New York to study at Columbia University with the art historian Meyer Schapiro. It was Schapiro's encouragement that initially led the artist to start making paintings. During the early 1940s, he entered a milieu of young artists that included William Baziotes, Jackson Pollock, and Willem de Kooning. Motherwell later taught Cy Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg at the famed Black Mountain College. After returning to New York, he met the painter Helen Frankenthaler in 1957, and they were married three years later. During their 13 year marriage, the two artists’ mutual interest in the poetry of abstraction fueled one another’s work. Motherwell died on July 16, 1991 in Cape Cod, MA. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Tate Modern in London, among others.

Robert Motherwell News

Gallery Network

7 Questions for Dealer Bernard Jacobson on Why He’s Devoting Three Back-to-Back Exhibitions to Robert Motherwell’s Work

by Artnet Gallery Network
7 Questions for Dealer Bernard Jacobson on Why He’s Devoting Three Back-to-Back Exhibitions to Robert Motherwell’s Work
Law & Politics

The Brooklyn Gallerist Who Artist Deborah Roberts Is Suing for Copyright Infringement Has Fired Back, Calling It a Case of 'Punching Down'

by Eileen Kinsella
The Brooklyn Gallerist Who Artist Deborah Roberts Is Suing for Copyright Infringement Has Fired Back, Calling It a Case of 'Punching Down'
Law & Politics

The FBI Has Recovered a Crimson Robert Motherwell Painting Stolen 40 Years Ago by a Moving Man

by Eileen Kinsella
The FBI Has Recovered a Crimson Robert Motherwell Painting Stolen 40 Years Ago by a Moving Man

Robert Motherwell Artworks

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

Robert Motherwell (7,271 results)
Nocturne no.5 (from Octavio Paz suite), 1987–1988

Robert Motherwell

Nocturne no.5 (from Octavio Paz suite), 1987–1988

Sale Date: September 29, 2010

Auction Closed

Composition, 1972

Robert Motherwell

Composition, 1972

Sale Date: September 22, 2010

Auction Closed

Tricolor, 1973

Robert Motherwell

Tricolor, 1973

Sale Date: September 29, 2010

Auction Closed

From below, 1975

Robert Motherwell

From below, 1975

Sale Date: September 27, 2010

Auction Closed

Pregnant nude no. 1, 1958

Robert Motherwell

Pregnant nude no. 1, 1958

Sale Date: September 27, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1958

Robert Motherwell

Untitled, 1958

Sale Date: September 22, 2010

Auction Closed

Mask (For Ingmar Bergman), 1989

Robert Motherwell

Mask (For Ingmar Bergman), 1989

Sale Date: September 15, 2010

Auction Closed

The red queen (+ The poet's eye; 2 works), 1989–1990

Robert Motherwell

The red queen (+ The poet's eye; 2 works), 1989–1990

Sale Date: September 15, 2010

Auction Closed

Australian stone, 1983–1984

Robert Motherwell

Australian stone, 1983–1984

Sale Date: September 15, 2010

Auction Closed

French Revolution bicentennial (suite..., 1987–1988

Robert Motherwell

French Revolution bicentennial (suite..., 1987–1988

Sale Date: September 14, 2010

Auction Closed

French Revolution bicentennial (suite..., 1987–1988

Robert Motherwell

French Revolution bicentennial (suite..., 1987–1988

Sale Date: September 14, 2010

Auction Closed

Abyss, 1978

Robert Motherwell

Abyss, 1978

Sale Date: September 14, 2010

Auction Closed

Black cathedral, 1991

Robert Motherwell

Black cathedral, 1991

Sale Date: August 19, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled (from French Revolution..., 1988

Robert Motherwell

Untitled (from French Revolution..., 1988

Sale Date: September 10, 2010

Auction Closed

Through black emerge purified (from El negro), 1983

Robert Motherwell

Through black emerge purified (from El negro), 1983

Sale Date: September 10, 2010

Auction Closed

Glass garden, 1984

Robert Motherwell

Glass garden, 1984

Sale Date: September 14, 2010

Auction Closed

America la France variations II - Greenwich..., 1987

Robert Motherwell

America la France variations II - Greenwich..., 1987

Sale Date: April 1, 2009

Auction Closed

Nocturne ii (from three poems by octavio paz), 1967

Robert Motherwell

Nocturne ii (from three poems by octavio paz), 1967

Sale Date: August 13, 2008

Auction Closed

Elegy black black, 1983

Robert Motherwell

Elegy black black, 1983

Sale Date: March 31, 2010

Auction Closed

St michele ii, 1979

Robert Motherwell

St michele ii, 1979

Sale Date: April 14, 2010

Auction Closed

St michele ii, 1979

Robert Motherwell

St michele ii, 1979

Sale Date: April 14, 2010

Auction Closed

Beau geste iv, 1989

Robert Motherwell

Beau geste iv, 1989

Sale Date: April 22, 2009

Auction Closed

rite of passage i, 1979

Robert Motherwell

rite of passage i, 1979

Sale Date: April 22, 2009

Auction Closed

Hermitage, 1975

Robert Motherwell

Hermitage, 1975

Sale Date: June 23, 2009

Auction Closed

English (US)

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