'The subject of this portrait is David McCorkle. In the fall of 1964 Kelly traveled with McCorkle and another American friend, Dale McConathy, to Paris. The occasion was the opening of a retrospective exhibition, organized by the Galerie Maeght, that was devoted to the artist's work since 1958.' Richard Axsom, The Prints of Ellsworth Kelly, Volume 1, Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland, Oregon, 2012, p. 66.
Acting as a vital contributor to the Abstract movement, Ellsworth Kelly focused on color and composition. Becoming inspired by ornithology and the bold coloring of birds, Kelly used a two or three pigment color palette — painted flatly and geometrically — on his canvases. While living in Paris, the artist used Monet's late works as a base for experimenting with expressionism and serial work