Ocean Park #45

A noted painter and printmaker, Richard Diebenkorn was widely recognized for his large-scale, luminousabstractions. The titles of Diebenkorn’s paintings often allude to the places that inspired them or in which they were made. His move to the Los Angeles area in 1966 led to a dramatic change in his work. The artist’s best-known paintings belong to the Ocean Park series—named for the section of Santa Monica wherehis studio was located—which he began in 1967 and continued for 20 years. The series comprises more than 140 paintings. These iconic works are distinguished by geometric structures, perhaps evoking the idea of a view from the studio window, overlaid with glazes of atmospheric color. In many ways, Diebenkorn sought to distill the emptiness of this landscape: sea and sky, beach and freeway.