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Transparent Painting: Ultramarine Blue
Transparent Painting: Ultramarine Blue
Transparent Painting: Ultramarine Blue
Photo: Prallan Allsten/Moderna Museet

Transparent Painting: Ultramarine Blue

Artist (USA, 1929 - 2018)
Alternate Title
  • Transparent målning: Ultramarinblå
Date1982
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsBildmått: 213,5 × 213,5 cm Yttermått: 213,5 × 213,5 × 4 cm
ClassificationPaintings
Credit LineDonation 2017 from Claes Nordenhake
Countries
On view
Stockholm
Object NumberMOM/2017/75
About the artwork

In the early 1970s, Marcia Hafif bought pigments of every colour and learned how to make her own paint. She experimented to find out how each colour reacted to different treatments. In this painting, ultramarine is the main protagonist; applied with wild gestures, it alternates between transparency and opacity. Blue usually makes us think of sky and sea, but here it only seems to represent itself. Hafif helped start the Radical Painting movement in the 1980s, which sought to increase the relevance of painting and gathered artists in discussions about the monochrome. Later, she explained that she did not identify herself as a painter primarily, as her works are neither abstract nor depictions of nature.


Signatures, inscriptions and marks Signerad på dukens omvikningskant på baksidan: 1982 M HAFIF, På dukens omvikningskant på baksidan: ULTRAMARINE BLUE Selected exhibition history Sju rum och en trädgård. Rashid Johnson och Moderna Museets samling (den 28 september 2023 - den 22 september 2024) Moderna Museet, Stockholm