Urgent Museum Notice

Acrylic No. 7

Close up of Acrylic No. 7

Large, minimalist painting consisting of six clean, vertical stripes of varying widths. At the center, the composition features a wide dark orange stripe with thinner pale yellow, mint and olive green stripes, flanked by two wide dark drab green stripes.
Large, minimalist painting consisting of six clean, vertical stripes of varying widths. At the center, the composition features a wide dark orange stripe with thinner pale yellow, mint and olive green stripes, flanked by two wide dark drab green stripes.
Fanny Sanín, Acrylic No. 7, 1970; Acrylic on canvas, unframed, 69 x 51 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of the artist; © Fanny Sanín; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

Acrylic No. 7 marks Fanny Sanín’s permanent transition from the gestural painting style of her pre-1969 works to geometric abstraction,  the ordered, linear, and symmetrical style for which she is best known.

In 1970, after adopting acrylics as her preferred medium, Sanín painted a series of striped compositions including Acrylic No. 7. This large-scale painting boasts vertical bands of rich autumnal hues.

The composition demonstrates Sanín’s mastery of formal elements such as line, shape, and color. Acrylic No. 7 is both ordered and varied; simple and complex. Crisp lines guide viewers’ eyes up and down the canvas and provide clear demarcations between hues.

Variation in stripe widths and colors create a pleasing visual rhythm. The juxtaposition of cooler, receding tints (pale yellow and light green) and their warmer, advancing counterparts (bright orange and chocolate brown) give the illusion of balance and depth of field.

Artwork Details

  • Artist

    Fanny Sanín
  • Title

    Acrylic No. 7
  • Date

    1970
  • Medium

    Acrylic on canvas
  • Photo Credit

    © Fanny Sanín; Photo by Lee Stalsworth
  • On Display

    No