Study for Red Green Blue

Study for Red Green Blue — Ellsworth Kelly. 1964.

Medium: oil on cream wove paper. Dimensions: Sheet: 75.9 x 56.5 cm (29 7/8 x 22 1/4 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

This drawing relates to a painting now at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. In the early 1960s, Ellsworth Kelly executed several paintings exploring this color scheme, most of which feature abstract shapes. Here, he developed a composition with inverted, reversed L-shapes around a "kernel" of red, an idea that he first explored in a multipanel painting from 1963. Kelly completed this drawing while he worked on his larger painting, and the rapidly executed sketch allowed him to explore different colors and shapes on a smaller scale.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.