Ocean Park # 86

This painting is composed of a central blue-gray section, balanced by jewel-toned bands of color. Richard Diebenkorn created this work by applying and wiping away layers of paint. This painting comes from the artist’s most significant series, Ocean Park, which he began in 1967 and continued over the next two decades. The series was inspired by the Ocean Park neighborhood of Santa Monica, the location of Diebenkorn’s studio. While eliminating figurative subject matter, Diebenkorn retained allusions to the landscape, using translucent and opaque planes of color to evoke the light and atmosphere of California.