A la pintura: Blue 5

Robert Motherwells A la pintura: Blue 5 from 1968-69, published in 1972, is a watercolor in blue on white wove paper that belongs to the artists series inspired by Rafael Albertis poem A la pintura, in which the Spanish poet addressed each color of the painters palette as if it were a living presence with its own character and demands. Motherwell, who was deeply engaged with European literature and philosophy throughout his career, responded to Albertis poem with a series of works that explore the phenomenological character of individual colors, creating paintings, drawings, and prints in which blue, white, black, and red are treated not as local attributes of objects but as independent visual events that communicate directly with the viewer. Blue 5, with its expansive blue wash on white paper, exemplifies Motherswells approach to color as a vehicle for emotional expression rather than descriptive function, treating the blue as a presence that fills the page with the same authority and spaciousness that blue has in the work of the color painters Motherwell most admired, from Matisse to Rothko. The watercolor medium, with its capacity for transparent washes that allow the white of the paper to glow through the blue, creates the effect of color as light rather than pigment, a luminous presence that seems to emanate from the paper rather than being applied to it. The year 1968-69 places this work in the period when Motherwell was producing his most accomplished watercolors, and the A la pintura series represents a significant engagement with color that would influence his work for the rest of his career.

Motherwells A la pintura series is one of the most significant extended projects in the history of Abstract Expressionism, and Blue 5 demonstrates his ability to treat color as an independent visual event rather than a descriptive attribute. The series influenced the development of color-based abstraction and the broader tradition of art engaged with poetry.

A watercolor in blue from 1968-69 by Motherwell from his A la pintura series, treating blue as an independent visual presence that fills the page with luminous spaciousness, inspired by Albertis poetic address to the colors of the painters palette.