Sam Francis

Sam Francis (1923-1994) was one of the most influential American painters of the post-war period, renowned for his abstract works of exceptional luminous and chromatic intensity. Born in San Mateo, California, Francis initially studied medicine before turning to art after a long convalescence following an air crash during the Second World War. This episode had a profound effect on his work, in which light, space and freedom became recurrent themes. Trained at the University of California at Berkeley, he followed in the footsteps of Abstract Expressionism, but distinguished himself from it with a more ethereal, meditative approach. In the 1950s, he moved to Paris, where he joined international artists' circles and exhibited at the Galerie du Dragon. He soon established himself on the world stage alongside such figures as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Joan Mitchell. His work is characterized by an exploration of color as a vital, spiritual force, applied in blobs, splashes and transparencies. Francis also drew on Eastern philosophies and Zen thought, seeking to paint not objects but states of consciousness. His work can be found in major public collections, including MoMA (New York), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Tate Modern (London) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Through painting, lithography and engraving, Sam Francis has left a body of work of cosmic energy, celebrating light as a universal principle.