Sam Francis

Sam Francis was a California-born abstract expressionist painter. One of the twentieth century’s leading interpreters of light and color, Francis maintained studios not only in New York and Los Angeles, but also in Paris, Bern, and Tokyo, making him the first post–World War II American painter whose reach was truly international. Throughout a long and prolific career, Francis created thousands of paintings as well as works on paper, prints, and monotypes. His work embraces New York abstract expressionism, color field painting, Chinese and Japanese art, French impressionism, and his own Bay Area roots.