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Artists›Ellsworth Kelly

Ellsworth Kelly

Ellsworth Kelly

1923–2015

WA-00000592

SculptureHard-Edge PaintingMinimalismGeometric Abstraction

Representation

None documented

43

Institutional Exhibitions

2299

Works in Collection

4518

Assets Indexed

17

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ544899

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

ELLSWORTH KELLY The Naming of Colors | Matthew Marks Gallery

Matthew Marks Gallery

2026

No image

Master Prints from the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1989

No image

Abstractions

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988–1989

No image

Following Matisse's Line

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988

No image

In Honor of Toiny Castelli: Drawings from the Toiny and Leo Castelli Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988

No image

Rauschenberg, 34 Drawings for Dante's "Inferno" and Selections from the Drawings Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988

No image

Contemporary Works from the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1987–1988

No image

American Prints, 1960�1985

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1987

No image

Contemporary Works from the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1986–1987

No image

Contemporary Works from the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1986

No image

Contemporary Works from the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1985–1986

No image

Contrasts of Form: Geometric Abstract Art, 1910�1980

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1985–1986

Field Verification (8 fields)

6 cross-verified · 2 single-source

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

Source Registry (4)

Christies-Artsyhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/ellsworth-kelly
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Sothebyshttps://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/ellsworth-kelly
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Matthew-Markshttps://matthewmarks.com/artists
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/3048
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Ellsworth Kelly made flat, hard-edged paintings, shaped canvases, and freestanding sculptures that distilled observed forms from nature and architecture into pure relationships of color, shape, and ground. His reductive compositions, often single-hue panels or multi-panel works, occupy a singular position between postwar abstraction and a perceptual practice rooted in direct looking. Major holdings are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

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

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Hard-Edge Painting

Medium

Sculpture

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Tate Whitney Museum of American Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Canonical record

Artworks (2299)

Black Form II

2012 · Painted aluminum

80 x 71 3/4 x 4 1/4" (203.2 x 182.2 x 10.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Ellsworth Kelly - schwarz & weiss hausderkunst

Ellsworth Kelly - schwarz & weiss hausderkunst

2011 · Lithograph

46 3/4 × 33 1/8" (118.7 × 84.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

White Curve

2009 · Painted aluminum

430 × 1650 × 8 cm (169 5/16 × 649 5/8 × 3 3/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Blue Gray Green Red from Artists for Obama

Blue Gray Green Red from Artists for Obama

2008 · Lithograph from a portfolio of six lithographs (one with screenprint), three screenprints, three etchings (one with aquatint), and two drypoints with chine collé

composition: 3 3/16 x 10 1/16" (8.1 x 25.5 cm); sheet: 12 x 14" (30.5 x 35.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Blue Gray Green Red

Blue Gray Green Red

2008 · Lithograph

sheet: 48 x 130" (121.9 x 330.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Red Diagonal

2007 · Oil on canvas, two joined panels

213.4 × 277.9 × 6.7 cm (84 × 109 3/8 × 2 5/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Black Diagonal Relief

2006 · oil on canvas

Overall: 213.4 x 120.7 x 7 cm (84 x 47 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

The River (State)

The River (State)

2004 · Lithograph

sheet: 47 1/2 x 116 1/2" (120.7 x 295.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Ellsworth Kelly - Fondation Beyeler

2003 · Lithograph

50 3/8 × 35 1/8" (128 × 89.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Ellsworth Kelly: Red Green Blue

Ellsworth Kelly: Red Green Blue

2003 · Lithograph

23 1/8 × 38 1/2" (58.7 × 97.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

White Relief over White

White Relief over White

2003 · Oil on canvas, two panels

10' x 70 1/8" x 7 1/8" (304.8 x 178.1 x 18.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

The River (State)

2003 · lithograph

Sheet: 101.6 x 276.9 cm (40 x 109 in.); Framed: 120.6 x 295.8 x 8.9 cm (47 1/2 x 116 7/16 x 3 1/2 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Ellsworth Kelly - Foundation Beyeler

Ellsworth Kelly - Foundation Beyeler

2002 · Lithograph

27 1/2 × 39 3/8" (69.9 × 100 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Red Curve (for Parkett no. 56)

Red Curve (for Parkett no. 56)

1999 · Lithograph

composition (irreg.): 8 11/16 x 7 5/8" (22 x 19.4 cm); sheet: 9 13/16 x 7 5/8" (25 x 19.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Blue (for Leo)

1997 · Color screenprint on white wove paper

Image: 83 × 41 cm (32 11/16 × 16 3/16 in.); Sheet: 94 × 68.8 cm (37 1/16 × 27 1/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Blue (for Leo) from The Leo Castelli 90th Birthday Portfolio

Blue (for Leo) from The Leo Castelli 90th Birthday Portfolio

1997 · Screenprint from a portfolio of four screenprints (one with hot stamping), three etchings (one with aquatint), one offset lithograph, and one lithograph

composition (irreg.): 36 7/8 × 23 5/8" (93.7 × 60 cm); sheet: 36 7/8 × 26 15/16" (93.7 × 68.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from The Geldzahler Portfolio

Untitled from The Geldzahler Portfolio

1997 · Lithograph from a portfolio of three lithographs, two etchings (one with aquatint), two screenprints, one digital print, one offset lithograph, one solar plate intaglio, and one video transfer

composition and sheet: 16 9/16 x 16 1/2" (42 x 41.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

1995 · Lithograph

Museum of Modern Art

Ellsworth Kelly till Brancusi - Malmo Konsthall

Ellsworth Kelly till Brancusi - Malmo Konsthall

1994 · Lithograph

39 1/2 × 27 5/8" (100.3 × 70.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Red-Orange Panel with Curve

Red-Orange Panel with Curve

1993 · Oil on canvas

8' 8" x 7' 3 1/2" (269.4 x 222.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

[no title]

1992 · Lithograph on paper

image: 738 x 547 mm

[no title]

1992 · Lithograph on paper

image: 738 x 547 mm

[no title]

1992 · Lithograph on paper

image: 738 x 547 mm

[no title]

1992 · Lithograph on paper

image: 738 x 547 mm

View all 2299 artworks →

Artwork sources (6)

300 published of 1000 catalogued · 221 with image

MoMA
219 publishedof 916 catalogued151 img
Art Institute Chicago
56 published56 img
Tate
11 published11 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
7 published
The Met
7 published
+ 1 more source · 3 catalogued, not yet published

Record

Images

14 assets

Ellsworth Kelly (Artsy)

Artsy

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Red Yellow Blue White and Black II (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Red Yellow Blue White and Black II (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Ellsworth Kelly no San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SFMOMA 30

Wikimedia Commons (Instagram fallback)

Ellsworth Kelly (cropped)

Wikimedia Commons (Instagram fallback)

Ellsworth Kelly

Wikimedia Commons (Instagram fallback)

Ellsworth Kelly no San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SFMOMA 30

Wikimedia Commons (Instagram fallback)

View all 14 media items →

Relationships

12

Movements4

Hard-Edge Painting Minimalism Geometric Abstraction Color Field

Collections8

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Tate Whitney Museum of American Art Christie's

Institutional

Representation & Collections

Represented by

Matthew Marks Gallery

Current

Gallery

Matthew Marks Gallery

In collection

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

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

Beaux-Arts de Paris

Visual Arts

Pratt Institute

Visual Arts