De la nada vida a la nada muerte

Description

Known for his early stripe paintings and elaborately shaped canvases, the prodigiously inventive Frank Stella always works in series. De la nada vida a la nada muerte is the largest of his Running V paintings—a set of large, monochromatic striped pictures whose titles derive from colloquial Spanish expressions. The length and mellifluous sound of this work’s title, which literally means “From life nothing to death nothing,” coincides with the rising and falling visual cadences of the painting. The two-dimensional surface, which appears as if it might continue into infinity, consists of 20 parallel lines and seems to alternately project from and recede into the wall. Although Stella’s rigorously calibrated surface, immaculate execution, and use of monochromatic gold pigment temper this painting, they barely constrain its kinetic exuberance.

Provenance

The artist; sold through Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Sept. 19, 1966.

De la nada vida a la nada muerte

Frank Stella

1965

Accession Number

25671

Medium

Metallic powder in polymer emulsion on canvas

Dimensions

205.7 × 744.2 cm (81 × 293 in.)

Classification

painting

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Ada S. Garrett Prize Fund