“Boats in Sanary Harbor,” created by Ellsworth Kelly in 1952, is an abstract artwork that aligns with the Color Field Painting and Hard Edge Painting movements. The piece features distinct, solid planes of color which are meticulously separated from each other to create a minimalist yet vibrant composition.
The artwork is characterized by its vertical format and is composed of several horizontal bands of varying widths and colors. From top to bottom, the composition includes a sky-blue band at the top, followed by a wider dark band interjected with a thin yellow stripe, a red band, another sky-blue band, and finally a white band at the bottom. The use of bold, flat colors and the precision of the color separations highlight Kelly’s adherence to the principles of Hard Edge Painting and his exploration of geometric abstraction within the broader Color Field movement. This piece epitomizes the artist’s ability to convey depth and structure through the strategic placement and contrast of color fields.
