In short
Etel Adnan, 'California #9', 2013, oil on canvas, © The Estate of Etel Adnan, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar.
Etel Adnan made abstract landscapes in vivid colours. She shared her love of nature and colour with Vincent van Gogh.
If you see the artworks of Etel Adnan and Vincent van Gogh together, you’ll probably soon spot similarities: bright, powerful colours, trees, a sun, the landscape.
Above: Vincent van Gogh, 'Wheatfield', 1888, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation). Below: Etel Adnan, 'Untitled', 2014, oil on canvas, Collection Jean Frémon. © The Estate of Etel Adnan. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., Paris/New York.
‘Van Gogh really liberated colour. Because he accepted it as true’.
Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan, 2016. Courtesy Galerie Lelong. Photo: Fabrice Gibert.
Adnan grew up between different languages and cultures: she spoke Greek, Turkish, French and English.
In colour and art, she found a language that everyone could understand.
‘What I discovered about painting through painting is that it is a language that can go as far as any other language’.
Etel Adnan
