Silver Skies
James Rosenquist1962/1962
Chrysler Museum of Art
Norfolk, United States
Snippets of images float by: a squawking bird, tire tread, a red rose, knobby knees, a woman’s eyes, a car door, a glass bottle, and a shiny shoe. Silver Skies presents a sequence of dreamlike images that flitter along like roadside advertisements seen from a moving car. The combination hints at meaning or a story, but ultimately defies rationality or order. When the Sidney Janis Gallery included the painting in the International Exhibition of the New Realists in 1962, it helped launch the Pop Art movement and win critical acclaim. Not everyone was happy, however. Abstract Expressionists like Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell quit the gallery in protest, condemning what they saw as the vulgar commercialization of art.
71.699
- Title: Silver Skies
- Creator: James Rosenquist
- Creator Lifespan: b.1933
- Creator Nationality: American
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Birth Place: Grand Forks, ND
- Date: 1962/1962
- Location Created: United States
- Provenance: Sidney Janis, New York; Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Scull, New York; Green Gallery, New York; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, (Sale No. 3118, No. 33), November 18, 1970; Gregoire Galleries, Inc., New York, November 20, 1970; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971.
- Physical Dimensions: 78 1/2 × 198 × 1 1/2 in. (199.4 × 502.9 × 3.8 cm)
- Credit Line: Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
- Type: Painting
- Rights: © James Rosenquist / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
- Medium: Oil on canvas
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
