Blue Red Green Black 2004
Oil on canvas, four panels
59½ × 295 inches; 151 × 749 cm

Blue Red Green Black (2004) is a four-part painting, each panel identically shaped and painted a single color. First exhibited in Kelly’s 2006 exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London, the painting spans nearly twenty-five feet and reflects the artist’s remarkably consistent vision. “My later paintings have all of the early paintings inside them,” Kelly explained. “An artist starts from an idea and builds on it.”

<p><em>Blue Red Green Black</em> in "Ellsworth Kelly" at the Serpentine Gallery, London, 2006<em><br /></em></p>

Blue Red Green Black in "Ellsworth Kelly" at the Serpentine Gallery, London, 2006

Kelly painted a number of four panel works using these colors between 2000 and 2007, including Blue Black Red Green (2000) in the collection of the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, and the monumental Berlin Panels (2000) installed in the seven-story high, glass-fronted lobby of the German Parliament.

<p><em>Blue Black Red Green</em> 2000<br />Oil on canvas, four panels<br />Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel</p>

Blue Black Red Green 2000
Oil on canvas, four panels
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel

<p><em>Berlin Panels</em> 2000<br />Painted aluminum, four panels<br />Paul-Löbe-Haus, Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin</p>

Berlin Panels 2000
Painted aluminum, four panels
Paul-Löbe-Haus, Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin