Fontana similarly explored the tension between abstraction and natural geological forms using bold color fields and textural surface qualities that echo the tactile pastel approach Party employs in Rocks.

Thiebaud shared Party's fondness for vibrant saturated color applied with a bold contemporary sensibility, and his later landscape works translate natural forms into simplified colorful abstract compositions very close in spirit to this piece.

Cézanne's geological rock and landscape studies share a deep preoccupation with rendering natural stone formations through layered color passages, directly anticipating the colorful textural abstraction Party achieves with pastel on canvas in Rocks.