Surge, 1980 31 1/8 x 70 3/4 in (79.2 x 179.7 cm)

Robert Rauschenberg's "Surge" exemplifies his mature combine painting approach, integrating photographic imagery, silkscreen elements, and gestural marks across a monumental horizontal canvas. The work's expansive scale of nearly six feet tall and almost six feet wide creates an immersive visual field that characterizes the artist's investigation of abstraction and representation as coexisting rather than opposing forces. Created during the 1980s, this painting reflects Rauschenberg's continued exploration of how disparate visual elements and materials can generate meaning through their collision and coexistence on a single picture plane.