Lorelei
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Object Label
A leader of the second generation of Abstract Expressionists, in the early 1950s Helen Frankenthaler developed a unique technique, diluting traditional oil paints with turpentine, allowing for what she termed a “soak stain” on an unprimed canvas. For Lorelei, inspired by a boat ride on Germany’s Rhine River, Frankenthaler positioned her canvas on the floor, moving her body around its perimeter and gaining new vantage points while pouring, tossing, and flicking paint from cans and brushes. The artist avoided applied brushstrokes; she told the Brooklyn Museum in 1966 that she preferred “an immediate, allover look . . . something that looks as if it were all born at once. As if it happened.” This emphasis on energy over exacting composition was perceived as an avant-garde break from centuries of Western painting traditions, garnering critical and collector support.
Caption
Helen Frankenthaler American, 1928–2011. Lorelei, 1957. Oil on untreated cotton duck, 70 5/8 x 86 3/4 in. (179.4 x 220.3 cm) frame: 75 x 91 7/8 x 2 1/2 in. (190.5 x 233.4 x 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Allan D. Emil, 58.39. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 58.39_PS11.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Lorelei
Date
1957
Medium
Oil on untreated cotton duck
Classification
Dimensions
70 5/8 x 86 3/4 in. (179.4 x 220.3 cm) frame: 75 x 91 7/8 x 2 1/2 in. (190.5 x 233.4 x 6.4 cm)
Signatures
Unsigned
Credit Line
Purchase gift of Allan D. Emil
Accession Number
58.39
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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Frequent Art Questions
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Frankenthaler often paints works that evoke abstract landscapes. She says, "My pictures are full of climates — abstract climates and not nature per se, but a feeling — of an order that is associated more with nature . . . Nature in order — order out of chaos."
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