Abstract painter who poured thinned paint straight onto raw canvas.
Serene
Vibrant
Abstract Geometrics
Fun fact
Her 'soak-stain' technique, invented at 23, launched the entire Color Field movement.
How she made it
Soak-stain: oil thinned with turpentine (later acrylic) poured onto unprimed canvas laid flat on the floor, then pushed with sponges, squeegees and her hands so the colour dyes the fibre instead of sitting on top.
Work
Interior Landscape, 1964, Helen Frankenthaler, Paintings in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SFMOMA 18, 2025-04-15 14:15:18
