Smaragd, Red, and Germinating Yellow, 1959 (oil on canvas)

Smaragd red and permiating yellow shows Hofmann's ability to suggest space, movement, formal structure, and visual tension with colour. His works are filled with the depiction of opposites, juxtaposing two-dimensional surface plane with the illusion of shallow three-dimensional space. In this painting, he included only two clearly defined rectangles, a favorite motif. The most persistent is an acid yellow one surrounded by a turbulent field of heavily encrusted opaque color. These flat planes, along with the broadly brushed, built-up areas of hue, appear to move forward or recede. The resolution of this visual tension was achieved through the artist's celebrated principle of composition--called "push, pull"--in which various visual conflicts within the work were harmoniously balanced.