The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Abstract oil painting completely coating the canvas in thick swirls of yellow paint speckled with strokes of red, blue, orange, and green layered into thick, visible splotches of paint.

Untitled

c. 1958

Beauford Delaney

(American, 1901–1979)
America
Oil on canvas
146.1 x 114.3 cm (57 1/2 x 45 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 2022.92
© Estate of Beauford Delaney by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire, Court Appointed Administrator; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Location: 227 Abstract Expressionism

Did You Know?

Delaney was a very good friend and inspirational mentor to writer James Baldwin.

Description

Believing in the power of color to communicate emotions and symbolize ideas, Beauford Delaney loved yellow for its associations of light, healing, and spiritual radiance. In works such as Untitled, he created a sense of happiness and uplift even when his personal circumstances were challenging. Born in the racially segregated southern United States, the artist eventually relocated to Paris during the early 1950s, hoping to live and work more freely as a queer Black man.
  • Beauford Delaney, Paris, FR
    (Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, FR)
    Paul Facchetti, Paris, FR
    Bruno Facchetti, Paris, FR, and Brooklyn, NY
    1998
    Private Collection
    (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY)
    2022–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Leeming, David. "Beauford, Abstraction, and Light," Beauford Delaney: Liquid light, Paris Abstractions, 1954-1970, exh. cat. (New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 1999). Mentioned P. 7; Reproduced p. 11
    Powell, Richard J. Beauford Delaney: The Color Yellow, exh.cat. (Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 2001). Reproduced P. 37.
    Abstract Expressionism: Further Evidence, Painting and Sculpture, exh. cat. (New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 2009). Reproduced P. 25
    Childs, Adrienne. Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition, exh. cat. (New York: Rizzoli, 2020). Reproduced P. 157
  • Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition. Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (February 29 - January 3, 2021).
    Blues for Smoke. The Geffen Contemporary at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (October 21, 2012 - January 7, 2013); Wexner Center of the Arts, Columbus, OH (September 21, 2012 - January 5, 2014).
    Abstract Expressionism: Further Evidence, Part 1: Painting. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York (March 14 - July 31, 2009).
    Beauford Delaney: The Color Yellow. High Museum of Art, Atlanta (February 9 - May 5, 2002); The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (July 10 - September 15, 2002); Anacostia Museum and Center of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (October 11 - December 30, 2002); Sert Gallery, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (February 15 - May 4, 2003).
    Beauford Delaney: Liquid Light, Paris Abstractions, 1954-1970. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York (September 9 - October 30, 1999).
  • {{cite web|title=Untitled|url=false|author=Beauford Delaney|year=c. 1958|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.92