  About the Artwork
  
  
  Ellsworth Kelly was a precursor of minimalism, developing his own "hard-edge" style of painting that reduced geometric elements to their most basic state. The smooth, blue oblong shape lies flatly against the contrasting monochrome red surface, showing no signs of depth or illusionistic space. The only compositional element is the relationship between the colors, which replaces any representational meaning or content.
  
  
  Title
  Blue Red
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1964
  
  Artist
  Ellsworth Kelly
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1923-2015
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  ----------
  
  
  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 72 × 58 inches (182.9 × 147.3 cm)
  Framed: 73 × 58 1/2 × 1 1/2 inches (185.4 × 148.6 × 3.8 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  Contemporary Art after 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase with funds from W. Hawkins Ferry
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  75.32
  
  
  Copyright
  © Estate of the Artist
