Swan Lake I, 1961 — Fine Art

Swan Lake I, 1961- by Helen Frankenthaler shows soft colour washes spread across a thin sheet. Pale tones sit in open areas with a few darker marks placed by hand. The colours do not fill the sheet, so the ground shows through in places.

The fine art print uses a matte paper that holds the pale tones without shine. A light frame sits on a dark wall, or a dark frame on a pale wall, so the frame follows the room instead of fighting the colours. You see the thin edge where one wash meets the paper.

The print hangs on a bedroom wall at eye level, where the light from a window falls across the sheet at a shallow angle. From the bed you read the broad pale field first, then the small darker marks closer up.