1930, Arthur G. Dove, Sand Barge -- Phillips Collection (Washington)
From the museum label: As early as 1910, Dove abandoned representational elements from his compositions. In 1912 he told critics: "[The forms] should tell their own story." He explained to Phillips, "Paintings should exist in themselves.... [T]he very essence of what I have found in nature [was] in the motif of choice—two or three colors and two or three forms." Phillips admitted that his discovery of Dove increased his open-mindedness and receptivity to abstract painting.
1930, Arthur G. Dove, Sand Barge -- Phillips Collection (Washington)
From the museum label: As early as 1910, Dove abandoned representational elements from his compositions. In 1912 he told critics: "[The forms] should tell their own story." He explained to Phillips, "Paintings should exist in themselves.... [T]he very essence of what I have found in nature [was] in the motif of choice—two or three colors and two or three forms." Phillips admitted that his discovery of Dove increased his open-mindedness and receptivity to abstract painting.