WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Milton Avery

Milton Avery

Milton Avery

1885–1965

WA-00001062

Altmar, NY, USA

Painting

Representation

None documented

0

Institutional Exhibitions

35

Works in Collection

95

Assets Indexed

15

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

70%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ2714574

Field Verification (7 fields)

6 cross-verified · 1 single-source

Primary mediumWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
Birth yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
Death yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
DeceasedWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
BiographyWikipedia + Unknown· 88%✓
LocationArtsy + Gallery· 85%✓
NationalityWikidata + Artsy+1· 92%

Source Registry (6)

Christies-Artsyhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/milton-avery
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Kasminhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/milton-avery
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Sothebyshttps://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/milton-avery
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Xavier-Hufkenshttps://www.xavierhufkens.com/artists
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/250
Tier 1 · Institutional92%
Victoria-Miro
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred60%

About

Why this artist matters now

Milton Avery was an American painter whose work occupies a distinctive position between European modernism and the abstract expressionism emerging around him in mid-century New York. His canvases reduce landscape, figure, and domestic interior to flattened planes of luminous color, often outlined with minimal drawing and held in subtle, close-valued harmonies. Though deeply connected to the New York scene, his palette-driven economy of form set him apart from his contemporaries and proved formative for painters including Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb. His work is held in major American museum collections.

Source: Christies Artsy · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

—

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York Tate Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (35)

Gray Sea

1963 · Lithograph

Museum of Modern Art

Milton Avery: Paintings 1930-1960

Milton Avery: Paintings 1930-1960

1962 · Illustrated book with 1 etching

Museum of Modern Art

1960 · oil on canvas

Unframed: 128.3 x 153 cm (50 1/2 x 60 1/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Yellow Sky

1958 · Oil paint on canvas

support: 1562 x 1841 mm frame: 1615 x 1895 x 75 mm

Sea Grasses and Blue Sea

Sea Grasses and Blue Sea

1958 · Oil on canvas

60 1/8" x 6' 3/8" (152.7 x 183.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Dune and Bushes

Dune and Bushes

1958 · Watercolor and gouache on paper on board

22 1/4 x 30 1/4" (56.5 x 76.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Reflections

1954 · Monotype

composition (irreg.): 17 11/16 x 23 15/16" (44.9 x 60.8 cm); sheet (irreg.): 17 11/16 x 23 15/16" (44.9 x 60.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1954 · Oil on canvas

42 × 60 in. (106.7 × 152.4 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dawn

1952 · Woodcut on paper

image: 180 x 230 mm

Three Nude Women

Three Nude Women

1950 · Black fiber-tipped pen (faded to brown) on tan wove paper

35.1 × 42.8 cm (13 7/8 × 16 7/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

March at a Table

March at a Table

1948 · Drypoint on ivory wove paper

Plate: 22.3 × 15.4 cm (8 13/16 × 6 1/8 in.); Sheet: 41.1 × 33.1 cm (16 3/16 × 13 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Reclining Nude

1948 · Drypoint on wove paper

Image: 15 × 38 cm (5 15/16 × 15 in.); Sheet: 33 × 42 cm (13 × 16 9/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

1948 · oil on canvas

Unframed: 80.3 x 121 cm (31 5/8 x 47 5/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Laurels Number Four: Nude with Long Torso

1948 · drypoint

Sheet: 33 x 41.6 cm (13 x 16 3/8 in.); Platemark: 14.9 x 37.7 cm (5 7/8 x 14 13/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Seated Female Nude

Seated Female Nude

1947 · Pen and black ink on ivory wove paper

42.6 × 35.1 cm (16 13/16 × 13 7/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

1947 · Oil on canvas

32 1/8 × 48 1/8 in. (81.6 × 122.2 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1947 · Oil on canvas

61 1/2 × 50 3/4 in. (156.2 × 128.9 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lone Rock and Surf

1945 · Watercolor and charcoal on paper

Sheet: 22 1/2 × 30 1/4 in. (57.2 × 76.8 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Swimmers and Sunbathers

1945 · Oil on canvas

28 × 48 1/4 in. (71.1 × 122.6 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Studious Sketcher

1944 · oil on canvas

Framed: 107 x 86.7 x 6.4 cm (42 1/8 x 34 1/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 91.4 x 71.1 cm (36 x 28 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Sunburned Couple

Sunburned Couple

1943 · Oil on canvas

106.6 × 91.5 cm (41 15/16 × 36 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Conversation in Studio

Conversation in Studio

1943 · Oil on canvas

Approx.: 106.7 × 91.4 cm (42 1/16 × 36 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Dikran G. Kelekian

1943 · Oil on canvas

36 1/4 × 28 1/8 in. (92.1 × 71.4 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Dessert

1939 · Oil on canvas

28 1/8 x 36 1/8" (71.4 x 91.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 35 artworks →

Artwork sources (6)

35 published of 42 catalogued · 26 with image

Art Institute Chicago
11 published11 img
MoMA
7 publishedof 14 catalogued13 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
7 published
The Met
7 published
Tate
2 published2 img
Whitney
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 9)

9 entries · 1 sources

Dawn
1952 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Laurels Number Four: Riders in the Park
1934 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Laurels Number Four: Nude with Long Torso
1948 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Blue Bay
1960 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Studious Sketcher
1944 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Farm Yard
1948 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
My Wife Sally
1934 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Laurels Number Four
1934 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Yellow Sky
1958 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

52 assets

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Conversation in Studio (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Conversation in Studio (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Conversation in Studio (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Conversation in Studio (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Conversation in Studio (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Conversation in Studio (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Conversation in Studio (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 52 media items →

Relationships

8

Collections8

Christie's Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern Art Tate Whitney Museum of American Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

Represented by

Xavier Hufkens

Current

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Tate

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Background

Education

Art Students League of New York

Visual Arts

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

No exhibitions or timeline entries yet