Song of Orpheus 5
Bridget Riley
(English, born in 1931)
1978
Medium/TechniqueAcrylic on linen
Dimensions195.6 x 259.7 cm (77 x 102.25 in.)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds donated by the Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Martin M. Hale, gift of the Linde Family Foundation, and Eloise and Arthur Hodges
Accession number2000.978
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPaintings
Collections
Riley first gained recognition in the 1960s for her optically engaging abstract paintings. By the late 1970s - in large works such as this one - she had evolved away from black-and-white geometric patterning toward an increasingly complex focus on creating "colored light" through repeated juxtapositions of bands of color. Although tightly controlled, the surface of this painting seems to undulate as precisely placed lines of complementary colors twist, alternately emerging and melding together.
ProvenancePrivate collection of the artist. 2000, sold by Pace Wildenstein, New York, to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 15, 2000)Copyright2004 © Bridget Riley. All rights reserved.
