The American non-figurative painter Sam Francis is usually labelled an abstract expressionist but belonged to a younger generation than the New York school painters. In addition, Francis comes from California, where he also lived, apart from periods abroad. Francis’s colourful yet light and airy abstract painting is strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism. His paintings are many-coloured with spots that are rhythmically spread across the surface of the image, allowing the paint to run down the canvas. Empty surfaces are given great significance. Francis’s work was shown in a solo exhibition at Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1960.
