G. David Thompson

Explore Selected Works

Robert Motherwell, Personnage, 1945, oil on canvas board, Gift of Aaron I. Fleischman, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.44.1

Personnage

Robert Motherwell · 1945 · oil on canvas board ·  Accession ID  1991.44.1

A patchwork of earth-toned rectangles, cubes, and prism-like shapes surrounded by pools of cool aquamarine and silvery gray fill this square, nearly abstract painting. Brushstrokes, which are mostly horizontal, and dashes are visible throughout. A curving, pointed form at the lower center could be a boat with a tall, fawn-brown mast. It is surrounded by forms suggestive of rocks, other boats, or structures against a watery horizon. Most of the shapes around the boat are leather brown, tan, apricot orange, muted violet, or steel gray. Another pole, also suggestive of a mast, angles up from near the lower left corner, about a third of the way into the composition. Many of the shapes are outlined with charcoal-gray lines. Horizontal and blended strokes in pewter gray and icy blue at the upper corners suggest the sky.
Georges Braque, Harbor, 1909, oil on canvas, Gift of Victoria Nebeker Coberly in memory of her son, John W. Mudd, 1992.3.1

Harbor

Georges Braque · 1909 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1992.3.1