Blue Balls

Sam Francis, Blue Balls, 1960, oil on canvas, 90 ⁵⁄₈ x 79 ¹⁄₈ in. (230.2 x 201.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 1968.52.17

Artwork Details

Title: Blue Balls
Artist: Sam Francis
Date: 1960
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 90 ⁵⁄₈ x 79 ¹⁄₈ in. (230.2 x 201.0 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Abstract
Object Number: 1968.52.17
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1968.52.17

Artwork Description

Sam Francis had a transnational career, spending significant periods of his life between California, New York, Europe, Mexico, and Japan. This constant movement is reflected in the perpetual motion and reinvention he pursued in his work. Francis arrived at his colors and images intuitively. In Blue Balls, centrifugal force seems to propel orbs outward. Gravity pulls drips downward and spatters mark the trajectories of particles moving through space. The painting is part of a series of predominantly blue works, featuring organic forms, which Francis created in the early 1960s as he suffered through hospitalization and convalescence for kidney disease. Despite his illness, he began these paintings in Paris and continued them in New York, Tokyo, Bern, and California.