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.

Most Expensive Artwork Sold at Auction

At Five in the Afternoon, 1971
Sold price: 12,690,000 USD

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

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'

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

Robert Motherwell (7,271 results)

Africa 9, from Africa Suite, 1970

Robert Motherwell

Africa 9, from Africa Suite, 1970

Sale Date: July 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Open No. 137: In Ultramarine on Beige, 1969

Robert Motherwell

Open No. 137: In Ultramarine on Beige, 1969

Sale Date: July 18, 2023

Auction Closed

Pregnant Nude No.6, 1958

Robert Motherwell

Pregnant Nude No.6, 1958

Sale Date: July 18, 2023

Auction Closed

London Series II: Untitled (Blue/Pale Blue)

Robert Motherwell

London Series II: Untitled (Blue/Pale Blue)

Sale Date: July 15, 2023

Auction Closed

London Series II: Untitled (Blue/Tan)

Robert Motherwell

London Series II: Untitled (Blue/Tan)

Sale Date: July 15, 2023

Auction Closed

London Series II: Untitled (Yellow/Black)

Robert Motherwell

London Series II: Untitled (Yellow/Black)

Sale Date: July 15, 2023

Auction Closed

London Series I: Untitled (Green)

Robert Motherwell

London Series I: Untitled (Green)

Sale Date: July 15, 2023

Auction Closed

El Negro Motherwell, title page, 1983

Robert Motherwell

El Negro Motherwell, title page, 1983

Sale Date: July 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Front End Leaf: El Negro, 1983

Robert Motherwell

Front End Leaf: El Negro, 1983

Sale Date: July 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, from Paroles Peintes III, 1967

Robert Motherwell

Untitled, from Paroles Peintes III, 1967

Sale Date: July 19, 2023

Auction Closed

The Wave, 1978

Robert Motherwell

The Wave, 1978

Sale Date: June 27, 2023

Auction Closed

Apropos Robinson Jeffers.

Robert Motherwell

Apropos Robinson Jeffers.

Sale Date: May 11, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1986

Robert Motherwell

Untitled, 1986

Sale Date: June 22, 2023

Auction Closed

The Robinson Jeffers Print, in: Apropos, 1981

Robert Motherwell

The Robinson Jeffers Print, in: Apropos, 1981

Sale Date: June 23, 2023

Auction Closed

o.T., 1964

Robert Motherwell

Sale Date: June 23, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled (Engberg & Banach 224, Belknap..., 1978

Robert Motherwell

Untitled (Engberg & Banach 224, Belknap..., 1978

Sale Date: June 23, 2023

Auction Closed

Black Flag (Engberg & Banach 304, Belknap..., 1983

Robert Motherwell

Black Flag (Engberg & Banach 304, Belknap..., 1983

Sale Date: June 23, 2023

Auction Closed

ROBERT MOTHERWELL, ARTIST'S PROOF FROM MADRID...

Robert Motherwell

ROBERT MOTHERWELL, ARTIST'S PROOF FROM MADRID...

Sale Date: June 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Capriccio, 1961

Robert Motherwell

Capriccio, 1961

Sale Date: June 22, 2023

Auction Closed

Spanish Elegy. Pl. pour la suite Octavio Paz, 1988

Robert Motherwell

Spanish Elegy. Pl. pour la suite Octavio Paz, 1988

Sale Date: June 29, 2023

Auction Closed

Sans titre, 1988

Robert Motherwell

Sans titre, 1988

Sale Date: June 29, 2023

Auction Closed

GAULOISES BLEUES (BELKNAP 33; ENGBERG/BANACH 59)

Robert Motherwell

GAULOISES BLEUES (BELKNAP 33; ENGBERG/BANACH 59)

Sale Date: June 21, 2023

Auction Closed

Oy/Yo, 1978

Robert Motherwell

Sale Date: June 23, 2023

Auction Closed

Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart, 25th Anniversary, 1991

Robert Motherwell

Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart, 25th Anniversary, 1991

Sale Date: June 16, 2023

Auction Closed

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