31/05/2026
‘My paintings are a footprint of my whole life,’ Sam Francis once said. ´Each painting is like my body print, taken at different moments.’
And what a life it was.
Born in California in 1923, Francis began painting while confined to a full-body cast for three years after spinal tuberculosis. Over the next five decades, he became one of the most celebrated artists of his generation, with more than 100 solo exhibitions and, from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, the highest prices of any living painter.
A true international artist, Francis lived across three continents, married five times, and pursued creative projects around the world. Beyond painting, he founded a publishing company, a printing press, a holistic medical research center, a reforestation program, and a wind energy company still active today.
📸©️Michael Childers
Artwork: Sam Francis, Dark Red Dream 1971
✅Learn more and discover our selection of available works by Sam Francis via the link below:
https://www.operagallery.com/artist/sam-francis