Cobalt Night

1962

Lee Krasner

Associated Names
Lee Krasner

Artist, American, 1908 - 1984

This painting showcases an array of short, dynamic lines overlapping across the canvas diagonally. It features a mix of colors, including earthy browns, soft pinks, bright magenta, and cream. Some of the brushstrokes are thick and clear, while others spread the paint in patchy streaks.
This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Lila Acheson Wallace

  • Dimensions

    overall: 237.5 x 409.9 cm (93 1/2 x 161 3/8 in.)
    framed: 242.6 x 415.1 cm (95 1/2 x 163 7/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1984.40.1

More About this Artwork

Shown from the shins up, two elegantly dressed women and two young boys, all with light skin, sit together on a bench in front of a stone balustrade with a forest landscape beyond in this horizontal portrait painting. The people are brightly lit from our left but the darkened sky suggests dusk. The boys lean onto the woman at the center of the composition, and the second woman sits to her right, our left. All of the people have pale skin, rosy cheeks, delicate noses, and their pink lips all turn up in slight smiles. The woman on our left sits with her body angled toward her friend but she turns her face to look at us with brown eyes under curving brows. Her wavy, flint-gray hair is loosely bound up so it frames the sides of her face and curls over her shoulders. Her swirling, white head covering is edged in gold and tied in a bow over her left ear, on our right. Her long-sleeved dress has a tight-fitting bodice and a low, scooped neckline lined with pleated white fabric. Her dress shimmers from sapphire blue to dusky pink, suggesting it is iridescent taffeta. Large pearls hang off the end of round, gold, hoop earrings, and a glimmering gold sash is tied around her waist. She sits with her left hand resting on her friend’s right shoulder, closer to her, and she gestures toward one of the young boys leaning on the friend’s lap with her other hand. The second woman sits with her body facing us, and she looks off to our left with gray-blue eyes. Her silvery gray, upswept hair is covered with a long piece of white fabric with pink stripes, twisted loosely into a turban-like head covering. She wears dangling gold earrings, and her dress is striped with parchment white and rust red. Her right hand, on our left, rests on her friend’s knee, and her other arm is wrapped around the older boy. He kneels on the bench and leans forward, wrapping the arm we can see around her torso. His face near hers, he looks up at her from under his lashes. A dimple marks the flushed cheek we can see. His chestnut-brown hair falls around his shoulders, and he wears a gingerbread-brown suit. The smaller and younger of the two boys rests his head on his crossed hands on her thigh, and looks out at us. He wears a white garment with a lilac-purple sash tied in a bow around his waist. There is a pale pink rosebush in the lower right corner of the painting, near the kneeling boy’s foot. The landscape beyond the balustrade is filled with dark green trees against a slate-blue sky. The painting is created with blended brushstrokes, giving it a soft look.

Article:  Your Tour of Women Artists at the National Gallery

See these 10 works by trailblazing women artists during your next visit.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Studio of the artist [1908-1984]; (Robert Miller Gallery, Inc., New York); purchased 1984 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1984

  • Lee Krasner: A Retrospective, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk; Phoenix Art Museum; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1983-1985,

Bibliography

1984

  • Vetrocq, Marcia E. "An Independent Tack: Lee Krasner." Art in America 72 (May 1984): 140-141 repro., 142.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 192, repro.

1989

  • Strick, Jeremy. Twentieth Century Painting and Sculpture: Selections for the Tenth Anniversary of the East Building. Washington, D.C., 1989: 96, repro. 97.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 222, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Lee Krasner '62

Wikidata ID

Q20195704

You may be interested in

Loading Results