“Thanksgiving Day,” created in 1973 by Helen Frankenthaler, is an exemplar of the Color Field Painting and Lyrical Abstraction movements within abstract art.
The artwork features a large, amorphously shaped green form at its center, dominant against a predominantly white canvas. This central green shape is surrounded by washes of subtle hues and broad strokes, creating an area of interaction between color and canvas. On either side of the green form, to the left, there are streaks of reddish and brown tones, and to the right, a blue gradient shape appears. A thin yellow streak traverses the canvas horizontally near the bottom, adding a sense of linearity to the overall composition. The translucency and fluidity of the colors imbue the artwork with a sense of depth and serenity, exemplifying Frankenthaler’s pioneering stain-painting technique. The seemingly simple yet evocative arrangement of colors invites contemplation and evokes a myriad of interpretations, characteristic of her abstract oeuvre.
