Mountains and Sea
Helen Frankenthaler
1952
Charcoal and oil
220 x 297.8 cm

Frankenthaler often painted onto unprimed canvas with oil paints that she heavily diluted with turpentine, a technique that she named “soak stain.” This allowed for the colors to soak directly into the canvas, creating a liquefied, translucent effect that strongly resembled watercolor. The major disadvantage of this method, however, is that the oil in the paints will eventually cause the canvas to discolor and rot away.