Robert Motherwell is perhaps most famous for his Elegy to the Spanish Republic series. Made up of more than 150 paintings created between 1948 and 1990, the early Elegies represent an important breakthrough, as the artist moved away from figurative abstraction to explore the play between oval and rectolinear forms. While the title refers to the end of the Spanish Republic and the rise of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship (1939–75), Motherwell viewed these paintings as more universal explorations o

Explore Robert Motherwell's "Elegy for the Spanish Republic," 1960, part of a large series of works memorializing the anti-fascist cause early in the last century, in this week's Slow Art. See how Motherwell, in vigorous black and white contrasting shapes, laments the dead and informs the living. | The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Last chance! NYPL's exhibition 'Robert Motherwell: At Home and in the Studio' is on view through August 2. Clare Bell, the Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Associate Director for Art, Prints and Photographs, walks us through some highlights from the exhibition, which celebrates the recent gift from the Dedalus Foundation of prints by Robert Motherwell and books from the artist’s home donated by his family. Beyond his practice as an artist, the exhibition also explores Motherwell's work as a teacher, crit