Look closer: Sask.’s Remai Modern museum acquires Agnes Martin’s Tranquility

At first glance, it’s a blank canvas.

Take a closer look, and you can see horizontal bands of ivory, pale blue and lavender.

Agnes Martin’s Tranquility is the latest acquisition of Remai Modern in Saskatoon, making it the first museum in western Canada to feature one of Martin’s paintings in its permanent collection.

The Saskatchewan-born painter is best known for her abstract grids and muted colours that reflect the prairie landscape.

Martin was born in Macklin, Sask., in 1912. Her family moved to the United States in the 1930s, but according to Aileen Burns, a co-executive director and CEO at Remai Modern, her Saskatchewan roots shine through in her work.

“Her iconic lined paintings call to mind the patchwork of rural landscapes,” Burns said.

“The gridded roads as seen from above and the soft, hazy horizontal bands call to mind the place where the land and the sky meet in such profound ways in this province.”

Martin’s work is also featured in collections at the Modern Museums of Art in New York and San Francisco, Tate Modern in London, and the Santa Pompidou in Paris.

Martin painted Tranquility in Taos, New Mexico in 2000. She died in 2004.

Remai Modern bought the painting from the Pace Gallery in New York City for an undisclosed sum, with funds from the Frank and Ellen Remai Foundation.

This is the museum’s largest commitment to a Canadian artist to date, according to Johan Lundh, a co-executive director and CEO of Remai Modern.

“We’re delighted to hold the work in trust for future generations and for people to enjoy it here in Saskatoon and elsewhere,” Lundh said.

“Nobody else but Agnes Martin could make a painting like that. It’s just so nuanced that nobody else could get away with it,” said Robert Enright, a professor of fine art at the University of Guelph and the senior editor of Border Crossings Magazine.

He’s delighted to see one of Martin’s paintings find a home in the prairies that inspired her work, he said.

“Abstraction and that kind of subtle perception has a lot to do with the way we see space. So it made more sense that it would have caught on in the prairies than it would have in B.C., where mountains keep getting in the way.”

Her paintings may look simple to some, but others are transported by Martin’s work.

“When you stand in front of one of her paintings long enough, the lines almost dissolve. What begins as order becomes atmosphere, vibration, memory, silence,” said Michelle Jacques, the chief curator of Remai Modern.

Though the museum doesn’t have an exhibit dedicated to minimalism, Jacques said the painting will fit in with the its Forecast exhibit, which looks at how climate and weather can inspire artists from around the world.

“It’s not directly about climate, but it is about the tranquil feeling that you can achieve when you’re really enjoying a sunny or even cloudy beautiful day,” Jacques said.

It was worth every penny to bring Tranquility to Saskatchewan, she said.

“I can’t imagine a more fitting home for this painting.”