Ellsworth Kelly - Sunflower (1957)

Louisiana poster featuring the work, Sunflower, (1957) , by American artist, Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015). The poster was printed in conjunction with Louisiana's 2012 exhibition of the artist, which featured 40 drawings of plants and flowers. Kelly set the agenda for abstract art in the United States for more than a century.

Ellsworth Kelly - otherwise known as one of the United States' leading figures in Hard Edge painting , Color-Field and Pop Art, where he experimented with canvases in new formats - shows a completely different, less gestural side of himself in the work, Sunflower .

A stay in France in the years 1948-54 laid the foundation for his fascination and close observation of nature, and it was here that Kelly developed his abstract imagery, inspired by artists such as Claude Monet, Jean Arp and Henri Matisse.

Kelly's drawings are executed with simplicity and care in love for form, so that the lines in the plants' fine outlines appear intense and vibrant.