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Sam Francis Paintings

American, 1923-1994

Sam Francis was an American artist known for his exuberantly colorful, large-scale abstract paintings. His practice incorporated elements from Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, Impressionism and Eastern philosophy to create a unique style of painterly abstraction.

Influenced by Jackson Pollock and Clyfford Still, Francis is more closely associated to the work of Helen Frankenthaler, as he was more interested in the formal arrangement of the picture plane than the expressivity of the individual artist. “Painting is about the beauty of space and the power of containment,” Francis once reflected.

Born on June 25, 1923 in San Mateo, California, Francis briefly served in the US Air Force during World War II but was injured during a test flight. Returning to California, he received his BA and MA from UC Berkeley in botany and psychology before beginning to pursue a career in art. The artist traveled widely during his career, and he was closely aligned with the Art Informel movement while living abroad in Paris during the 1950s.

Francis died on November 4, 1994 in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 71. He was a founding trustee of Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and his paintings can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, among others.

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Artist: Sam Francis
UNTITLED (1969), [SF69-005], Abstract Painting by Sam Francis
By Sam Francis
Located in Hong Kong, HK
Sam Francis (1923‐1994) UNTITLED [SF69-005] acrylic on paper 104.7 x 74.9 cm (41 1/4 x 29 1/2 in) Executed in 1969 Signed and dated on the base This work is identified with the int...
Category

1960s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Untitled (SF64-048)
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
From the series Blue Balls, (1960-63). This series preoccupied Francis for a number of years, and as William C. Agee pointed out, are rooted in his threatened physical body. Again, t...
Category

1960s Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Untitled by Sam Francis
By Sam Francis
Located in New Orleans, LA
Sam Francis 1923-1994 American Untitled Signed and dated "Sam Francis 1965" (en verso) Oil on canvas This striking painting hails from the renowned Edge Paintings series by impor...
Category

20th Century Modern Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Oil

SF 89-153.
By Sam Francis
Located in Malmo, SE
Artwork size: 67 x 51 cm. Frame size: 112 x 97 cm. Free shipment worldwide. Archive number SF 89-153 in the Sam Francis Foundation. Stamped with the Sam Francis Estate logo and stamped signature on verso. Sam Francis’s paintings are a journey into a dream, a voyage into the landscapes of the soul where colours are lights on fire. Alongside names such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, Sam Francis is an artist who has succeeded in demonstrating a total mastery of abstract expressionism’s impassioned and spontaneous genre. The explosions of colour – red, blue, green and yellow – the streaks, strokes and bold lines of his pictures are the physical synthesis of the deepest crevices of the soul. His colours create rhythmical motifs that, characteristically enough, can be called the “musicality” of his paintings. The work of Sam Francis provides a visible meeting place for the conscious and the unconscious. His pictures are the cross-fertilisation of what has already been experienced with what exists still only as desire, a struggle between melancholy and merrymaking. Influenced by C.G. Jung, the father of psychoanalysis, Sam Francis spent a large portion of his life exploring the premise that dreams, instincts and intuition provide, the keys which unlock the mysteries and meaning of our inner lives. He was also fascinated by the four ancient elements – earth, water, air and fire – which developed into a leitmotif in his work. Sam Francis was born in San Mateo in California, USA in 1923. After starting to paint at the age of around twenty, he soon found himself increasingly consumed by the power of art. He spent much of the 1950s in Paris, from where he not only made frequent excursions to a number of European cities, but also embarked on many journeys to South America and Asia. He continued to move from place to place, primarily in the USA and Japan, right up until his death in 1994. Sam Francis’s first...
Category

1980s Contemporary Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Untitled, 1994 (SFP94-36)
By Sam Francis
Located in Greenwich, CT
Untitled, 1994 (SFP94-36) is an acrylic painting on canvas, from Francis' 'Last Works' collection. The canvas is 18 x 22 inches and stamped verso with the Sam Francis estate stamp. F...
Category

20th Century Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

The Yellow and Black Square (1959), [SF58-133], Abstract Painting by Sam Francis
By Sam Francis
Located in Hong Kong, HK
Sam FRANCIS (1923-1994) THE YELLOW AND WHITE SQUARE Signed, titled and dated 1959 on the reverse Watercolor on paper 11 by 10 in. (27.9 x 25.4 cm.) Executed in 1959 This work is identified with the interim identification number of SF58-133 in consideration for the forthcoming Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Unique Works on Paper. PROVENANCE Zoe Dusanne...
Category

1950s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Untitled, 1970 (SF68-44)
By Sam Francis
Located in Greenwich, CT
Untitled (SF68-44) from 1970 is an acrylic painting on paper with an image size of 41 x 27.5 inches, signed and dated 'Sam Francis 1970' verso, and framed in a custom, closed-corner,...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Untitled (Iron Forest)
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
Sam Francis (1923-1994) Untitled (Iron Forest) 1989 Acrylic on prepared paper 91.4 x 182.9 cms (36 x 72 ins) SF012
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Untitled (SFP94-78) (SFF.1754)
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
Sam Francis Untitled (SFF.1704) 1994 Acrylic on canvas 38.1 x 45.7 cms (15 x 18 ins) Provenance: Estate of the artist, California, 1994; Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen, June 1996; ...
Category

1990s Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Untitled SF80-1191
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
SAM FRANCIS 1923-1994 San Mateo, California 1923 – 1994 Santa Monica (American) Title: Untitled SF80-1191, 1980 Technique: Stamp Signed Acrylic on tissue thin Japan paper Paper si...
Category

1980s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Untitled SF75-040 [Mandala] - American Abstract Art 1975 Mandala
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
This is an acrylic painting on wove paper by Sam Francis. It was painted in 1975. It is stamp signed with the two ink stamps of the Sam Francis Estate, verso. This work is identifi...
Category

1970s Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Yea II
By Sam Francis
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Sam Francis (1923-1994) is one of the most distinctive and collected 20th century abstract artists. After serving in the air force in WW II, Francis returned to his native Californ...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paint

Untitled, 1963 (SF63-039)
By Sam Francis
Located in Greenwich, CT
Untitled (SF63-039) is an acrylic painting on paper, with an image size of 41 x 27.5 inches, signed 'Sam Francis' verso, and framed in a contemporary light wood frame. Untitled, 196...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Untitled SF79-011 (Acrylic Collage) - American Abstract Art 1986
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
This is an acrylic painting with collage on wove paper by Sam Francis. It is hand signed in pencil "Sam Francis" and dated "1979! beneath the signature verso. It was painted in 1979...
Category

1970s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Sketch SF65-076
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
SAM FRANCIS 1923-1994 San Mateo, California 1923 – 1994 Santa Monica (American) Title: Sketch SF65-076, 1965 Technique: Signed and Dated Acrylic Painting on Paper Size: 33 x 55.9 ...
Category

1960s Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Untitled, SF78-255 - Acrylic Painting with Watercolour American Abstract Art
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
SAM FRANCIS 1923-1994 San Mateo, California 1923 – 1994 Santa Monica (American) Title: Untitled SF78-255 (Acrylic), 1978 Technique: Signed and Dated Acrylic on BFK Rives Paper Pap...
Category

1970s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

SF64-045, Sam Francis, Acrylic, American Abstraction, Postwar, Work on paper
By Sam Francis
Located in Geneva, CH
SF64-045, Sam Francis, Acrylic, American Abstraction, Postwar, Work on paper 1964 Acrylic on paper 73 x 56.5 cm 94 x 75 cm / 37 x 29.5 in. (w...
Category

1960s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Untitled (Los Angeles)
By Sam Francis
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Sam Francis (1923-1994) is one of the most distinctive and collected 20th-century abstract artists. After serving in the Air Force in WWII, Francis returned to his native Californi...
Category

1960s Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Untitled SF78-94, 1978 (red acrylic)
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
SAM FRANCIS 1923-1994 San Mateo, California 1923 – 1994 Santa Monica (American) Title: Untitled SF78-94, 1978 (red acrylic) Technique: Stamp Signed Acryl...
Category

1970s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

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Artwork size: 22 x 9 cm. Frame size 40 × 35 cm. Estate stamped on the verso. Archive number SF 84-871 Free shipment worldwide. Sam Francis’s paintings are a journey into a dream, a voyage into the landscapes of the soul where colours are lights on fire. Alongside names such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, Sam Francis is an artist who has succeeded in demonstrating a total mastery of abstract expressionism’s impassioned and spontaneous genre. The explosions of colour – red, blue, green and yellow – the streaks, strokes and bold lines of his pictures are the physical synthesis of the deepest crevices of the soul. His colours create rhythmical motifs that, characteristically enough, can be called the “musicality” of his paintings. The work of Sam Francis provides a visible meeting place for the conscious and the unconscious. His pictures are the cross-fertilisation of what has already been experienced with what exists still only as desire, a struggle between melancholy and merrymaking. Influenced by C.G. Jung, the father of psychoanalysis, Sam Francis spent a large portion of his life exploring the premise that dreams, instincts and intuition provide, the keys which unlock the mysteries and meaning of our inner lives. He was also fascinated by the four ancient elements – earth, water, air and fire – which developed into a leitmotif in his work. Sam Francis was born in San Mateo in California, USA in 1923. After starting to paint at the age of around twenty, he soon found himself increasingly consumed by the power of art. He spent much of the 1950s in Paris, from where he not only made frequent excursions to a number of European cities, but also embarked on many journeys to South America and Asia. He continued to move from place to place, primarily in the USA and Japan, right up until his death in 1994. Sam Francis’s first...
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By Sam Francis
Located in Malmo, SE
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By Sam Francis
Located in New York, NY
Sam Francis Untitled (SF80-202), 1980 acrylic on paper 17.75h x 23.75w in
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1980s Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

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Acrylic

SF72-026
By Sam Francis
Located in New York, NY
Gouache on Paper
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1970s Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

SF 79-1053.
By Sam Francis
Located in Malmo, SE
Acrylic on paper Stamped by the Sam Francis Estate on the reverse. Size without frame: 31×23 cm. (Size with frame 53×45 cm) Free shipment worldwide. Sam Francis’s paintings are ...
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1970s Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

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SF 79-1053.
H 20.87 in W 17.72 in
Untitled SF78-916
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
SAM FRANCIS 1923-1994 San Mateo, California 1923 – 1994 Santa Monica (American) Title: Untitled SF78-916, 1978 Technique: Original Acrylic Painting on Paper Paper size: 37....
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1970s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

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Untitled
By Sam Francis
Located in New Orleans, LA
Sam Francis (1923-1994) was a post-war American painter and is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. He obtained his BA and MA at the University of California at Berkl...
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1980s Abstract Sam Francis Paintings

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Untitled
H 30.063 in W 16.125 in
Water Buffalo
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
49.5 x 38.1 cms (19 1/2 x 15 ins) Edition of 50
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1960s Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis Paintings

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Color, Lithograph

Untitled (SF-238)
By Sam Francis
Located in New York, NY
This original 2-color Lithograph was created in 1976. Signed in pencil and numbered, from the edition of 30 measuring 35 x 27 in (89 x 68.5 cm).
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20th Century Contemporary Sam Francis Paintings

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Lithograph

SF 66-111
By Sam Francis
Located in Malmo, SE
Artwork size: 79 x 55 cm. Frame size: 109 x 84 cm. Free shipment worldwide. Archive number SF66-111 in the Sam Francis Foundation. Stamped with the Sam Francis Estate logo and stamped signature on verso. Sam Francis’s paintings are a journey into a dream, a voyage into the landscapes of the soul where colours are lights on fire. Alongside names such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, Sam Francis is an artist who has succeeded in demonstrating a total mastery of abstract expressionism’s impassioned and spontaneous genre. The explosions of colour – red, blue, green and yellow – the streaks, strokes and bold lines of his pictures are the physical synthesis of the deepest crevices of the soul. His colours create rhythmical motifs that, characteristically enough, can be called the “musicality” of his paintings. The work of Sam Francis provides a visible meeting place for the conscious and the unconscious. His pictures are the cross-fertilisation of what has already been experienced with what exists still only as desire, a struggle between melancholy and merrymaking. Influenced by C.G. Jung, the father of psychoanalysis, Sam Francis spent a large portion of his life exploring the premise that dreams, instincts and intuition provide, the keys which unlock the mysteries and meaning of our inner lives. He was also fascinated by the four ancient elements – earth, water, air and fire – which developed into a leitmotif in his work. Sam Francis was born in San Mateo in California, USA in 1923. After starting to paint at the age of around twenty, he soon found himself increasingly consumed by the power of art. He spent much of the 1950s in Paris, from where he not only made frequent excursions to a number of European cities, but also embarked on many journeys to South America and Asia. He continued to move from place to place, primarily in the USA and Japan, right up until his death in 1994. Sam Francis’s first...
Category

1960s Contemporary Sam Francis Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

SF 66-111
SF 66-111
H 42.92 in W 33.08 in

Sam Francis paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Sam Francis paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Sam Francis in paint, acrylic paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Sam Francis paintings, so small editions measuring 11 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Sherron Francis, Norman Bluhm, and Arthur Pinajian. Sam Francis paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $19,468 and tops out at $950,000, while the average work can sell for $94,561.

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