Untitled 5 (from Paintings and Drawings: 1974-1990), 1991

Agnes Martin is an American abstract painter. While some consider her work to be of a minimalist style, she prefered the term abstract. Martin drew much of her early work from the desert landscapes of New Mexico. These pieces include subdued colors, ranging only between black, white and brown. Aside from an influence of New Mexican landscapes, Agnes Martin also sought inspiration from Taoism. Her abstract paintings are often a commentary on her spiritual exploration of Eastern philosophies. As her inspiration from this personal and spiritual journey continued, Martin began introducing light pastel washes to her rectangular grids, which created a shimmering effect when in different lights. Martin's minimalist style continued to transform as her painting career flourished. Her signature style of a 72 x 72 grid shifted to 60 x 60 and she began to experiment more with colors. Followers of her works remarked this change upon viewing Untitled No 4, where she blended pencil lines and primary color washes with gesso. The importance of this piece showed Martin stemming away from symmetry as she began to mark the lines intuitively herself.