Untitled

The American painter Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California, in 1923. He studied psychology and medicine, at the University of California in Berkeley in 1941. From 1943 to 1945 he served in World War II, and suffered a severe spine injury. He returned to painting after a long period of convalescence and returned to Berkeley, where he studied painting and art history from 1948 to 1950. Among his teachers are Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still.

Between 1950 and '57 he lived and worked in Paris. Having been accepted into the vanguard of young European artists, his works were shown in exhibitions in Paris, London and Bern. His breakthrough in America came with his participation in the exhibition "Twelve Americans" in the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1956. This period also marks the stylistic change from monochrome complete surface covering compositions to colourful "Color Islands" on the white canvas.