Agnes Martin

Born on a farm in rural Canada, Martin spent her childhood on the Canadian prairies before immigrating with her family to the United States in 1931 when she was 19 years old. Initially intending to become an art teacher, she received a degree in teaching from Western Washington University before moving to Taos, New Mexico.

Here, she began making Abstract paintings with organic forms and eventually developed her distinctive style of delicate grids, bands and horizontal lines drawn by hand, often over subtly modulated fields of pale colour. These canvases attracted the attention of renowned gallerist Betty Parsons, who convinced Martin to join her roster and move to New York City in 1957.

Though frequently associated with Minimalism due to her use of repetition, geometry and restraint, Martin resisted the label. Unlike many Minimalist artists, whose work emphasised objecthood and industrial precision, Martin’s paintings were deeply personal and intuitive. Each line was hand-drawn, revealing minute variations that testify to the presence of the artist. Describing her work as an expression of inner states rather than external systems, she asserted that her paintings were about “innocence, happiness and beauty”.

Despite her proximity to the centre of the art world, Martin remained philosophically independent and her focused pursuit charted new terrain that lay outside of both the broad gestural vocabulary of Abstract Expressionism and the systematic repetitions of Minimalism. Rather, her practice was tethered to spirituality and drew from a mix of Zen Buddhist and American Transcendentalist ideas that invited quiet reflection and heightened awareness.

In 1967, Martin abruptly left New York and withdrew from public life for several years, travelling across western United States before settling in New Mexico. This move marked a profound shift toward solitude and contemplation, which became central to both her life and work. When she resumed painting in the early 1970s, her style evolved subtly. Colour became more prominent and her once strict grids became softened horizontal bands, yet the essential qualities of her work remained unchanged.

Over the course of her career, Martin received widespread recognition, including major retrospectives at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her writings and lectures further articulated her belief in art as a means of conveying universal, transcendent emotions. Through her disciplined practice and restraint, she created works that continue to offer viewers a rare space for contemplation, reminding us of the profound power of silence, balance and attention.