Untitled (SFP94-23, SF94-036) 1994

This untitled painting was made near the end of Sam Francis's life, and it’s like a party of colour, isn't it? I can almost hear the music and laughter. Imagine Francis in his studio, probably in California, surrounded by canvases and pots of paint. He’s got his brush loaded and he's flinging these reds and greens and purples onto the canvas, letting them drip and mingle. Look at those bright blues and greens swirling into a kind of oceanic dream, with those sharp punctuations of orange and purple on top. He was probably thinking about Monet’s waterlilies, or maybe he was just in a good mood, but there’s such freedom in how he uses the paint. The paint is thin, it is like watercolour almost. It feels like a celebration of life, a last hurrah of colour. It reminds me that painting is always about having a conversation with other painters across time. We learn from each other, steal from each other, and keep the dialogue going.