The Chicago Panels (Green)

1989

Part of Ellsworth Kelly's monumental suite 'The Chicago Panels' (1989–1999), conceived as six architectural reliefs for the Art Institute of Chicago's Rice Building, this green panel exemplifies Kelly's ambition to unite painting with architecture. Reduced to a single chromatic field, the work's irregular contours and curved edges activate spatial awareness of height, span, angle, and movement. The acrylic-on-fiberglass-and-plywood construction gives color an object-like, architectural body, functioning as a calibrated presence in space rather than an autonomous picture. A highlight of the Art Institute of Chicago's permanent collection, the series is widely regarded as one of Kelly's most lucid realizations of his lifelong dialogue between color, form, and built environment.

Medium: Acrylic on fiberglass and plywood
Dimensions
Spotted At: Museum · Art Institute of Chicago

Notes

Part of a suite of six monumental relief panels — black, red, yellow, blue, orange, and green — installed in the Rice Building of the Art Institute of Chicago. Dimensions range from 189.5 × 212.3 cm to 269.8 × 208 cm across the six panels. Kelly conceived the series to bring painting into direct contact with architecture: color as structure, shape as interval, wall as field. Source: zeitcontemporaryart Instagram/post caption referencing Art Institute of Chicago collection. © Ellsworth Kelly Foundation.