Yellow Painting 1949

Barnett Newman’s Yellow Painting, made with oil on canvas, is just that: a yellow painting. But it’s the kind of yellow that vibrates and hums, like a field of sunflowers on a hot summer day. I imagine Newman stepping back from the canvas, squinting, then adding another layer, another subtle variation of yellow. There are these vertical lines or ‘zips’ that break up the colour and pull your eyes up. It's so simple, but it has a monumental scale. What would it feel like to stand in front of the canvas as the artist? Is it energizing? Exasperating? Newman was part of a generation of artists who were trying to start over, to find new ways to express themselves after the war. Looking at this yellow painting, I think about the history of art, about all the artists who have come before, wrestling with colour, form, and meaning. Artists are constantly in conversation with one another. And that conversation, that process, is what makes painting so alive, so endlessly fascinating.