Coral Trails 1986

Sam Francis made this painting, Coral Trails, with broad, sweeping gestures and a palette that feels both vibrant and elemental. Can you picture him there, maybe in his studio in California, coaxing the paint across the canvas? I love to imagine how these paintings come into being—shifting, emerging through trial, error, and intuition. What was he thinking when he made this? Maybe he was letting the paint lead the way. The drippy edges of the yellow and red patches create this sense of flow and movement, almost like these colors are having a conversation across the white space. This approach to painting is related to the work of other painters like Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler, who were expanding the possibilities of abstraction. Sam Francis is inviting us to participate in this ongoing exchange of ideas. It shows us painting is just a form of embodied expression, and it embraces ambiguity and uncertainty. It allows for multiple interpretations.