One of the founders and principal exponents of Abstract Expressionism, Robert Motherwell was one of the finest American painters of the 20th century. Over the course of his 50-year career, he produced a hugely varied yet decidedly abstract output, spanning prints, lithographs, collages and paintings. He also lectured in prestigious colleges in North America and founded and edited ‘The Documents of Modern Art’ series, which published the writings of great European modernists, such as Kandinsky, Mondrian and Picasso.

Born in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1915, Motherwell studied philosophy at undergraduate and graduate level, before focusing on painting in the 1940s. Inspired by the Surrealist theory of psychic automatism, he saw his painting practice as an experimentation in visualising his feelings. In this untitled composition from 1990, Motherwell’s automatic gestures and wondering brushstrokes are executed in his signature palette of black, white, ochre and dusky pink. ‘I belong to a family of ‘black’ painters and earth colour painters in masses, which would include Manet and Goya and Matisse,’ he once said. Catch it while you can at Bernard Jacobson Gallery in Mayfair.

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