Four Panels 1971

Here is Ellsworth Kelly, offering us up four vertical bars in green, black, red, and blue. I wonder how Kelly chose the order of the colours? Did he try out different combinations? I feel the colour intervals hum. I like that the tones don’t match; each colour has its own temperature. The surface looks smooth, calm, and serene; each block is a single, uniform colour, almost like it was printed. I know Kelly also worked with shapes, and I see how these four panels can also be seen as shapes, standing alone or together as one unified image. The more I look, the more I wonder what was on Kelly's mind as he painted. There is a quiet mood. I also see how it is connected to the work of other painters making hard-edge paintings. The painting has that openness, inviting conversation and exchange, echoing ideas across time, sparking our own creativity, because making art is all about that endless dialogue.