Desert Pass

Helen Frankenthaler, Desert Pass, 1976, acrylic on canvas, 38 ¹⁄₄ x 53 ³⁄₄ in. (97.2 x 136.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin, 2005.5.32

Artwork Details

Title: Desert Pass
Artist: Helen Frankenthaler
Date: 1976
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 38 ¹⁄₄ x 53 ³⁄₄ in. (97.2 x 136.5 cm)
Credit Line: Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin
Mediums: acrylic
Mediums Description: acrylic on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Landscape — desert
Abstract
Object Number: 2005.5.32
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2005.5.32

Artwork Description

The warm brown and sandy yellow tones of Desert Pass evoke a sense of the southwest that Frankenthaler experienced on her first trip to Arizona. Although she denied that there are identifiable references to the natural world in this and other abstractions, she acknowledged that “paintings echo, in varying degrees, one’s inner psychic surroundings as well as outside orbits.” Desert Pass can be understood as a mindscape, an image in which a creative individual assimilates the world around her.

Modern Masters: Midcentury Abstraction from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2008