BiographyRobert Motherwell was an American abstract expressionist painter and one of the most intellectually articulate members of the New York School, known primarily for his sweeping Elegy to the Spanish Republic series—over 100 large canvases featuring stark black ovals and rectangles on white grounds that mourned the Spanish Civil War. He was also a prolific writer, editor, and theorist who helped shape the critical discourse around Abstract Expressionism in America. His work synthesized European Surrealism and American energy into a deeply humanist abstraction.
