Abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler died Tuesday, Dec. 27, at her home in Darien, CT at the age of 83.
Frankenthaler, who was known in the art world as a second-generation Abstract Expressionist, died after a long illness her longtime assistant, Maureen St. Onge told the New York Times.
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The painter is credited with starting an art movement during the mid-20th century through her technique of staining pigment into raw canvas, known as Color Field. The practice was first done by Jackson Pollock, who used enamel forming a layer on top of the canvas, but Frankenthaler instead poured tupentine-thinned paint onto the canvas, which would then soak into the fibers of the canvas.
She married fellow artist Robert Motherwell in 1958, and they came to be called the art world “golden couple.” The pair were divorced in 1971. She married again in 1994, wedding investment banker Stephen M. DuBrul Jr.
