The Gate (Hofmann)
The Gate is an oil painting made by Hans Hofmann in 1959–1960. The canvas measures 190.5 by 123.2 centimetres and belongs to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, accession number 62.1620.[1]
Colour and space
The painting belongs to a series in which Hofmann explored arrangements of colour resembling architectural volumes. Rectangular areas reinforce the shape of the canvas, while their relationships suggest different positions in space.[1]
The work is abstract, rather than a straightforward picture of a physical gateway. In her museum commentary, Cornelia Lauf suggests that a viewer can nevertheless interpret the coloured planes as the gate named in the title. She connects the work with Hofmann's teaching that abstraction could retain a relationship with nature.[1]