A great master of abstract art, he was a faithful friend of France. The six years he had spent in Paris, from 1948 to 1954, had been decisive for him in his formation and in the establishment of the principles that would guide his work. It was in Paris that he discovered the work of Jean Arp, of Constantin Brancusi, but also of Monet, who each in his own way would change his gaze, nourished by a constant dialogue with Picasso and Matisse but also with Romanesque art. His first exhibition was held in Paris in 1951. Forty years later, in 1992, the Galerie nationale du Jeu de paume will be the site of a magnificent evocation of his «French years».
Though profoundly American, Ellsworth Kelly testified on many occasions to his attachment to our country, where he returned until the 2000s, dedicating in particular series of drawings to the landscapes of Belle-Île or those of Montagne Sainte-Victoire. His special ties with France have also been manifested by donations of works to the National Museum of Modern Art, where we can admire at this time Window, Museum of Modern Art, Paris, an essential painting of 1949 whose posterity is immense and the power of stupefaction still strong.
His work is often described as minimalist. In the case of this magician of forms and colours, whom he had brought into a new dimension, not by escaping from reality but by being incredibly attentive to the beauty that was there, the adjective was appropriate insofar as the “minimum” will have been for him the surest way to produce a maximum of beauty and serenity.
I extend my condolences to her husband and loved ones.