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Ellsworth Kelly: Living Inspired at 89

Ellsworth Kelly
(photo: Vanity Fair)

When many people think of growing old they imagine a life on the decline – instead of reaching a climax. Why not travel the world, write a book, fall in love, or create something spectacular or start something new?

I love when I come across people in any field who break stereotypes and set an example for us all of what can be. Their lives inspire us. Ellsworth Kelly is such a man.

Painter, sculptor and printmaker, Ellsworth Kelly is famous for his abstract work, use of simple forms, and hard edge and color field painting. His works hang in museums and private collections worldwide including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego to name just a few.

He lives a painter’s dream producing exceptional works of art, and now at age 89 and with two major shows coming up – one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and another at the Morgan Library & Museum – he doesn’t allow his age to paint him into a corner.

Living the good life, he works in what many would consider a painters paradise — 15,000 sq ft of a perfectly re-designed studio in Spencertown, NY, and lives with his life partner and renowned photographer Jack Shear.

Although age has gifted him with more aches and pains, and most notably oxygen tanks that have become his daily companions, Ellsworth Kelly continues to paint, and for that we are grateful.

Posted in Art