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Contemporary Art

Homage to the Square

Josef Albers

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Object Label

Josef Albers’s Homage to the Square series is a study of the illusionistic effects of color. Starting with the rigorous geometry of nested squares, Albers created these works by applying paint directly from the tube and spreading it onto the Masonite board with a palette knife. The juxtaposed slabs of color play off one another, as some squares seem to recede into space while others float into the foreground. Albers pursued this study of color and perception from 1950 until his death, producing nearly a thousand canvases in the series.

Caption

Josef Albers (American, 1888–1976). Homage to the Square, 1957. Oil on masonite, 18 × 18 in. (45.7 × 45.7 cm) frame: 18 1/4 × 18 1/4 × 1 in. (46.4 × 46.4 × 2.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, 1995.197.1. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Homage to the Square

Date

1957

Geography

Place made: United States

Medium

Oil on masonite

Classification

Painting

Dimensions

18 × 18 in. (45.7 × 45.7 cm) frame: 18 1/4 × 18 1/4 × 1 in. (46.4 × 46.4 × 2.5 cm)

Signatures

Recto: initialed and dated lower right corner: A 57 Verso: title, signature, dimensions, date, color notes

Credit Line

Gift of The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation

Accession Number

1995.197.1

Frequent Art Questions

  • What museum or person has the largest collection of Josef Albers squares? I see a few at so many museums and am wondering if someone has most of them.

    Most likely the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, which maintains the archive of his work, holds the most pieces. There actually is an interactive Albers app that allows you to use his famous collection of squares “The interaction of Color.”

  • What is going on here?

    The artist did a whole series of canvases titled "Homage to the Square" exploring different color groupings and the ways the colors interact with each other. So, you can see that although these are both ranges of yellows, the different arrangements of light and dark tones create different visual effects. It was a very experimental approach to art at the time.
    He was a very influential teacher, too. He encouraged artists to work through "defamiliarization," basically, starting from scratch and looking at everything in a new way, while being very precise and logical. Almost like a scientist as well as an artist.
    Interesting, thank you!

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Artists and makers

Josef Albers

74 works in the collection