Milton Avery occupies a pivotal position in the trajectory of American art, bridging the gap between pre-war realism and post-war abstraction. His unique style, characterized by emotionally evocative scenes composed of vibrant colors and simplified forms, typified in Sunset Sea, 1960, contributed significantly to the emergence of chromatic abstraction in American art. Understated and ambiguous, this daringly simplified, almost abstract, painting of land, sea and sky is a poignant example of the ­­­­mature work that characterized the artist’s last decade. In a handful of tonal and textural variations and with not one brush mark more than is necessary, Avery conjures all the contemplative silence of a sunset.

“I like to seize the one sharp instant in Nature, to imprison it by means of ordered shapes and space relationships. To this end I eliminate and simplify, leaving apparently nothing but color and pattern. I am not seeking pure abstraction; rather, the purity and essence of the idea—expressed in its simplest form.”
—Milton Avery

Sunset Sea transports viewers to a serene coastal setting, inspired by the landscape of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where Avery spent four successive summers between 1957 and 1960, staying at an artists’ colony in Provincetown. A rocky outcropping dominates the foreground of the canvas, smooth surfaces of various grays jutting out above a vast expanse of burnished sea, its surface rendered in staccato ribbons of mauve and brownish crimson. As the sun dips behind the horizon, pulling its golden rays from the sky, the water below transforms into a reflective surface, echoing the magnificent hues above. The water takes on an ethereal blush, with patches of shadow and light, suggesting a soft evening wind dancing across its uneven surface. Avery has interspersed dry brushstrokes, seemingly applying paint directly from the tube to further enliven the surface. He allows the rough, woven texture of the canvas to peek through in places, embracing texture to differentiate planes and express a sense of place. The sand dunes in the distance, hazily delineated in horizontal layers of purple and blue, serve as a visual anchor, grounding the viewer amidst the ephemeral beauty of the sunset scene.

 

Avery's artistic journey began with his exploration of deeply saturated hues and distinct planes of color, earning him the moniker “American Fauve.”ⁱ Upon joining Paul Rosenberg's esteemed New York gallery in 1943, renowned for its representation of both European avant-garde figures and American luminaries like Max Weber and Marsden Hartley, Avery found himself immersed in the works of European masters such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.ⁱⁱ This exposure ignited his experimentation with non-associative color and simplified forms.  The period marked a departure from traditional pictorial conventions as Avery increasingly embraced color as his foremost mode of expression, simultaneously delving into the manipulation of space and depth within the picture plane, marking a profound evolution in his artistic style.

 

Sunset Sea is characterized by its formal simplicity, yet Avery's mastery lies in his ability to capture the essence of a moment rather than its precise details. He employs a reduced palette and flattened forms to distill the scene to its essential elements, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the mood and atmosphere of the painting. This economy of form encourages contemplation, allowing the mind to wander and form personal connections.

 

As Avery's career progressed, particularly throughout the 1950s, he honed his compositional elements while exploring the handling of his painted surfaces. Sunset Sea demonstrates this refinement, showcasing expansive zones of color that contribute to the unity of the composition. Avery's technique involved delicately applying thin washes of diluted pigment, sometimes rubbing the solution into the canvas to achieve a smoother, more even appearance and a shimmering luminosity. This approach, cultivated through his experimentation with monotype prints, infuses his later works with a subtle richness. In works like Sunset Sea, Avery continued to innovate, adopting a technique where he meticulously applied oil paint as if it was watercolor, building up numerous layers of thin, diluted wash. With the careful use of a rag, he then deftly manipulated the paint within each shape on the canvas, emphasizing their translucency, and allowing him to achieve subtle modulations of tone and create the luminous colors and dynamic interplay between surface and depth characteristic of his mature style.iii

 

Avery found significance in working directly from his immediate surroundings, often beginning with watercolor sketches before translating them into oil-on-canvas—an immersive approach that remained consistent throughout his practice. In Sunset Sea, his brushwork is characterized by its fluidity and expressiveness, imbuing the work with a sense of movement and vitality. The rhythmic strokes of his brush echo the ebb and flow of the tide, infusing the painting with a palpable sense of life. The loose, gestural quality of his technique lends the artwork an air of spontaneity, as if it were captured in a fleeting moment of inspiration. This sense of immediacy allows viewers to experience the painting as if they were witnessing the sunset firsthand, enveloped in its passing beauty.

“One feels looking at an Avery landscape or seascape that the highest human experience is being alone and at peace with the land and the sea”
—Barbara Haskell

The sea held a profound significance for Avery throughout his career. Drawing inspiration from his environment, Avery frequently depicted motifs such as his wife Sally, daughter March, and the rocky beaches of Massachusetts. His affinity for coastal landscapes connects him to predecessors like Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper, who also found inspiration along the Atlantic coastline. In the mid to late 1950s, Avery vacationed each summer in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he fell in love with the New England waterfront. In its subject, Sunset Sea shows the clear influence of the artist’s summers spent in the seaside town. “We were followers of the sea,” Sally Avery recalled. “On the beaches of Provincetown, Gloucester and Gaspe we braved the surf and rocky shore, spending endless hours contemplating the sea... Always the sea beckoned, at times with figures, at times with boats. But it was the sea, alternately black and mysterious or ruddy and gay that expressed the mystery and independence that makes its lure unfathomable. For Milton this was a subject to challenge again and again.”^iv

 

The picturesque scenery provided Avery with endless inspiration, offering tonal and textural variations between natural elements, shoreline, and open water. In 1957, fellow artists like Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb joined him in Provincetown, sparking a richness of artistic exchange in this seaside town. During this period, a pivotal visit from critic Clement Greenberg also bolstered Avery's reputation. As the decade progressed, Avery, whose success as a colorist undoubtedly influenced the younger generation of abstract and color field painters working alongside him, began to increasingly embrace abstraction in his own practice.

 

Despite becoming more abstract, Avery's output from the late 1950s to the early 1960s retained recognizable shapes and horizon lines, hinting at his chosen subject matter, often reflected in his straightforward titles, such as Sunset Sea. In the artist’s typically laconic style, this painting is identified by its restrained presentation of harmonious colors and simplified forms, serving as a testament to both the specificity of place and the universality of experience. Critics praised these new works, further bolstering support for his 1960 retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Another notable piece from this period, Dunes and Sea II, added to the Whitney Museum's collection as a 50th Anniversary Gift from Sally Avery, shares the uniformity of color and stark spatial juxtapositions typical of Avery’s late style, as seen in the present work.

 

In Sunset Sea, the setting sun casts long shadows across the water, imbuing the scene with a sense of quiet introspection. The chiaroscuro of light and darkness creates a dynamic contrast, enhancing the depth and dimensionality of the painting. One of his later works, by 1960 Avery had already had two heart attacks. He would die a few years later, in 1964, having made his final painting in 1963. Sunsets were a recurring motif during this final period. One can almost feel the warmth of the fading sunlight against their skin and hear the gentle lapping of waves against the shore. Avery's choice of subject matter further reflects his fascination with the natural world and its capacity to evoke profound emotional responses. The sea, a timeless symbol of infinity and boundless possibility, serves as a metaphor for the human experience—ever-changing yet eternal. In portraying the tides at sunset, Avery explores themes of transition and impermanence, inviting viewers to contemplate the fleeting nature of existence and the passage of time.

 

Sunset Sea speaks to the universal human longing for connection and transcendence. The vastness of the sea evokes a sense of awe and wonder, prompting viewers to contemplate their place within the greater cosmos. As the sun dips below the horizon, casting its final rays of light across the water, one cannot help but feel a sense of reverence for the beauty and majesty of the natural world. In this moment of quiet reflection, Avery invites us to pause, to breathe, and to appreciate the fleeting beauty of life.

 

“What was [his] repertoire? His living room, Central Park, his wife Sally, his daughter March, the beaches and mountains where they summered; cows, fish heads, the flight of birds; his friends and whatever world strayed through his studio; a domestic, unheroic cast. But from these there have been fashioned great canvases, that far from the casual and transitory implications of the subjects, have always a gripping lyricism, and often achieve the permanence and monumentality of Egypt.”
—Mark Rothko, speaking at Avery’s memorial in 1965 ^v

ⁱ Ted Loos, “Art/Architecture; A Flashy Museum Gives a Quiet Painter a New Look,” The New York Times, Section 2, p. 39, December 23 2001, online.

ⁱⁱ “Milton Avery: Biography,” DC Moore Gallery, New York, Accessed April 17 2024, online.

ⁱⁱⁱ Paul Richard, “Avery: Ally of the Weekend Painter,” The Washington Post, May 21 1977, online.

^iv Sally Avery, quoted in Milton Avery and Sally Michel Avery, Seascapes, New York, 1987, n.p.

^v Mark Rothko, quoted from his memorial address delivered at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. 2 West Sixty Fourth Street, on January 7, 1965