"Painting, for me, when it really 'happens,' is as miraculous as any natural phenomenon-as, say, a lettuce leaf."1 Although she consistently refused to "explain" the meanings of her works, Lee Krasner often indicated that even her most abstract paintings had ties to nature.

Like many of her pieces, The Springs is partly autobiographical. Its title refers to the village near East Hampton, on Long Island, where she and Jackson Pollock moved in 1945 and where she remained until settling in Manhattan two decades later. Stylistically, this is an example of gestural abstract expressionism: a large canvas, entirely covered with thick paint applied quickly in curving marks. Although it does not describe anything in particular, its rich texture, the various shades of green and white, and implied motion suggest grass and wind. In many parts of the painting "accidental" drips and splatters were left visible to emphasize the "automatic," unplanned way the pigments were applied.

Krasner painted The Springs soon after completing a group of dark abstractions called the Night Journeys and immediately after a series of personal traumas (surgery for a brain aneurysm, followed by a fall in which she broke her wrist, and then a second serious illness). Once Krasner had recovered, she began a new, very different series of paintings, much lighter in both palette and mood. As a result, many writers have interpreted The Springs as a symbol of rebirth and renewal.

1 Artist's statement, quoted in Bryan Robertson and B. H. Friedman, Lee Krasner: Paintings, Drawings, and Collages (London: Whitechapel Gallery, 1965), n.p.