THE LAST WORKS

In the 1980s, Francis’ grid pattern dissipated into more free-flowing, molten forms. In 1986, perhaps spurred by a new marriage and child (his fifth and fourth respectively), Francis had a renewed energy in his art. This vigor is apparent in Untitled, 1986, a painting from that year, which features a dense, symmetrical composition that suggests a newfound dynamism and vitality for the artist (Fig. 15).

This celebration was short-lived as Francis was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In the last five years of his life, Francis responded to his medical issues with an intensified urge to paint. The works from this period are emotionally charged with a thicker application of paint. These 152 final paintings from the summer of 1994 were subsequently grouped as “The Last Works” or “Joie de Vivre.” Despite the loss of use of his right hand, Francis forged ahead with this new body of work, filling the walls of his pool house studio. Untitled, 1994, and the tondo painting Untitled, 1994, are two such works from this notorious year; they are dense, layered and intensely rich, a fitting finale to his illustrious career (Figs. 17, 14).

Francis passed away in Santa Monica in November of 1994, at the age of seventy-one. He had once said “There isn’t enough time to paint all the images in my head,” but he indubitably produced an inexhaustible amount of art and created an everlasting legacy.

B. Freeman. “Sam Francis: Ideas and Paintings” in unpublished manuscript in Sam Francis Papers, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 1969, p. 158.

14. Untitled, 1994 Acrylic on canvas 18 in diameter

15. Untitled, 1986 Acrylic on canvas 36 h x 36 w in

16. Nothing Dies, 1985 Acrylic on canvas 24 h x 29 w in

17. Untitled, 1994 Acrylic on canvas 15 h x 18 w in