Sam Francis’s unparalleled handling of colour and light earned him a reputation as one of the most prolific and profound Abstract Expressionists of the 20th Century. Having relocated from his native California to Paris in 1950, he was inspired initially by the work of French colorists, before travelling extensively for the next four decades across several continents, where he was heavily influenced by the techniques, styles and aesthetics that he encountered along the way. His painterly practice became recognisable by its intensity of colour, his lyrical depiction of abstract form and radiant brilliance, spanning a variety of media from painting, prints and, in this, case works on paper.

Executed in 1990, just four years before the his passing, Untitled (SF91-76; SF90-903PRS) is a culmination of Sam Francis’ extensive artistic career.

Dynamic, characteristic drips and splashes of primary colour overlay a watery swathe of electric blue, drawing viewer’s eye animatedly across the various layers of the composition, creating a sense of depth and dimensionality on the paper.

Francis was a founding trustee of Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and today his paintings can also be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Tate, London; the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, to name a few.