Reinhard Ernst

Helen Frankenthaler’s (1928–2011) radical approach to paint and material creates images pulsating with colour. During the postwar period in the United States, she was a leading figure in abstract art. This volume brings together nearly fifty works, providing a comprehensive overview of the world’s largest private collection of Helen Frankenthaler’s works – on display at the recently opened Museum Reinhard Ernst in Wiesbaden. In Frankenthaler’s works, paint and canvas become one. The soak-stain technique she developed allows the paint to seep directly into unprimed fabric. The result is a pictorial effect like no other: colour spaces open up, flowing into one another, sometimes saturated, sometimes transparent. Above all, the pictures show an artist willing to take risks: by setting no limits to her artistic work, Frankenthaler was able to create liberated, large-scale paintings full of radiance. Her groundbreaking body of work remains highly relevant today.