The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Vertically oriented, abstract oil painting with thick swathes of paint streaking in layers across the canvas. Frenetic, black strokes extend from the center, intermingling with dark blue, brown, yellow, and dark red. White strokes streak in from the edges with sparse strokes of dark green and orange along the upper and lower edges. Occasionally, clusters of fine drips of paint trickle down. The bare weave of the canvas shows in the upper left corner.

Split Level

1958

Michael Goldberg

(American, 1924–2007)
America
oil on canvas
Unframed: 203.2 x 177.7 cm (80 x 69 15/16 in.)
Gift of B. C. Holland 1965.80
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

An Army paratrooper during the Second World War, Goldberg was wounded three times and earned a Purple Heart.

Description

Split Level belongs to the House series of paintings Goldberg created during 1957–60, in which densely robust brushwork coalesces into and around a dark rectangular form. Despite its architectural inspiration, the painting is fundamentally a record of the artist’s instinctive feelings rather than a specific image.
  • Opening - Fine Arts Center. Royce Hall for the Fine and Performing Arts, Painesville, OH (organizer) (May 15-June 14, 1970).
    CMA: Works from the Contemporary Collection, July 1-mid-October, 1969
    Works from the Contemporary Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 1-October 15, 1969).
    Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965).
  • {{cite web|title=Split Level|url=false|author=Michael Goldberg|year=1958|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1965.80