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Posted On: October 12th 2026, 08:05 pm
Three primaries. Three secondaries. One of the most audacious uses of color in Frank Stella’s early career.
Painted in 1962, Les Indes galantes belongs to the Mitered Mazes, a series in which the disciplined, symmetrical stripes of the Black Paintings burst into full color. Stella described his palette as “formalized” and “programmatic,” a system rather than a mood. Yet the effect is anything but dry, as red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and gray-blue bands pulse toward a vanishing point and seem to dance.
The title comes from Rameau’s 1735 opéra-ballet, a score known for vivid orchestration, dramatic invention, and 18th-century France’s appetite for the exotic.
One of four related large-scale works from 1962, with the other three now in museum collections, Les Indes galantes is one of Frank Stella's most daring early compositions. Hailing from the collection of Herbert Lust, it will now be offered in Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale in New York this November.
#FrankStella #LesIndesGalantes #Rameau #Minimalism #PostwarArt #AbstractArt #HerbertLust #ChristiesNewYork #TheFineArtGroup
Painted in 1962, Les Indes galantes belongs to the Mitered Mazes, a series in which the disciplined, symmetrical stripes of the Black Paintings burst into full color. Stella described his palette as “formalized” and “programmatic,” a system rather than a mood. Yet the effect is anything but dry, as red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and gray-blue bands pulse toward a vanishing point and seem to dance.
The title comes from Rameau’s 1735 opéra-ballet, a score known for vivid orchestration, dramatic invention, and 18th-century France’s appetite for the exotic.
One of four related large-scale works from 1962, with the other three now in museum collections, Les Indes galantes is one of Frank Stella's most daring early compositions. Hailing from the collection of Herbert Lust, it will now be offered in Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale in New York this November.
#FrankStella #LesIndesGalantes #Rameau #Minimalism #PostwarArt #AbstractArt #HerbertLust #ChristiesNewYork #TheFineArtGroup
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