Robert Motherwell (1915-1991)

“I have continuously been aware that in paintings I am always dealing with and never not, a relational structure. Which in turn makes permission ‘to be abstract’ no problem at all. All paintings are essentially relational structures whether figuration is present of not is not the real issue. So that I could apprehend, for example, at first sight, my first abstract art” (R. Motherwell quoted in  A. Mackie, Art/ Talk: Theory and Practice in Abstract Expressionism, Columbia University Press, 1964, p. 189).