
Minimalism
“Minimal art” was initially an insult implying that an artwork offered little to look at. Minimalist artists were also criticized for barely “making” their works: Donald Judd, for example, had his sculptures built in workshops. Nonetheless, many admire Robert Morris’s polyhedrons, Dan Flavin’s fluorescent light sculptures, and Anne Truitt’s austere sculptures of painted wood.
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Article: Your Tour of Latinx Artists at the National Gallery
Use our guide to explore works by Latinx artists on view in our galleries.

Video: How Eva Hesse’s Sculpture Changed the Face of Minimalism
Watch as New York Times art critic Aruna D’Souza examines Eva Hesse's sculpture Test Piece for "Contingent."

Article: Who Is Ellsworth Kelly? 10 Things to Know
The colorful life of one of the nation’s most important postwar artists.

Video: Anne Truitt in Washington: A Conversation with James Meyer and Alexandra Truitt
James Meyer, curator of art, 1945–1974, National Gallery of Art, speaks with Alexandra Truitt, independent photo editor and picture researcher, and manager, Estate of Anne Truitt.
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Sculpture
Sculptures come in many forms—from figures chiseled out of stone to interlocking pieces of metal suspended from a ceiling. They can be made of almost any material: marble, clay, silver, wood, bronze, steel, wax, pâpier-maché, and more.

Blue
Artists turn to the color blue to conjure depth, mood, and atmosphere. It recalls both the sky and the sea. But blue pigment was sometimes costly. Ultramarine blue was made from lapis lazuli, a semiprecious stone mined in what is now Afghanistan. For centuries of Western art, it was reserved solely for painting the Virgin Mary’s cloak.