Bellatrix by Morris Louis is an abstract Color Field painting featuring vertical streams of colour on unprimed canvas. This work exemplifies Louis's exploration of colour and materiality.

Morris Louis (1912-1962) was an American painter and a major figure in the Color Field movement, a style of abstract painting that emerged in the late 1940s. Louis, along with other artists like Kenneth Noland, sought to move away from the gestural brushwork of Abstract Expressionism, instead focusing on the expressive potential of pure colour. His work is characterised by the use of thinned acrylic paint poured onto unprimed canvas, creating luminous, translucent layers. Bellatrix exemplifies Louis's signature 'Veil' series. Vertical rivulets of colour cascade down the canvas, creating a sense of movement and optical blending. The colours, including reds, greens, blues, and browns, are allowed to interact and merge, resulting in subtle variations in tone and intensity. The large expanse of unpainted canvas surrounding the colour streams emphasises the materiality of the paint and the flatness of the picture plane. This work invites contemplation on the properties of colour and the act of painting itself.