Small's Paradise

Object Details

Artist

Helen Frankenthaler, born New York City 1928-died Darien, CT 2011

Gallery Label

Helen Frankenthaler's breakthrough as an abstract painter came when she discovered that paint thinned with turpentine and poured on raw canvas yielded rich colors and unexpected forms. Her titles were inspired by images that seemed "to come out of the pictures." When a shape that struck her as "Persian" emerged on this canvas, Frankenthaler thought of the word paradise--derived from pairi diz, Persian for a walled enclosure or garden. She had been to a New York City nightclub called Small's Paradise not long before, so when she put the associations together the painting became an emblem of a particular moment in her life.

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of George L. Erion

1964

Object number

1967.121

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Painting

Medium

acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

100 x 93 5/8 in. (254.0 x 237.7 cm.)

See more items in

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department

Painting and Sculpture

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Topic

Abstract

Record ID

saam_1967.121

Metadata Usage (text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk79f5bafab-27f8-4982-8680-29c10bd48aa0