Ellsworth Kelly was born in New York and studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Kelly was drafted into military service during WWII. Afterwards, Kelly used a G.I. bill to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Here, he was exposed to avant-garde and abstract European artwork and began to experiment with geometric abstraction.

After returning to New York, he created paintings and sculptures along contemporaries Agnes Martin, Fred Mitchell, and James Rosenquist.

Kelly’s work is usually characterized by shaped planes of solid color and was influenced by architectural elements like windows, awnings, and shadows. The work is bright and minimalist and thoughtfully explores form and color. Kelly was commissioned to make several public installations including: a mural for UNESCO in Paris; a sculpture for the city of Barcelona; a memorial for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; and a painted aluminum sculpture for Philadelphia’s Transportation Center.

Ellsworth Kelly’s first retrospective was held at the Museum of Modern Art in 1973 and his work is included in the collections of major institutions like the Guggenheim Museum, MoCA LA, the Tate Gallery, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.