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That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door)

Shallow and tall painting tightly focused on a black paneled door, a wreath of dying flowers hanging on it and a hand reaching to the doorknob from left.
© The Art Institute of Chicago.

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  • Shallow and tall painting tightly focused on a black paneled door, a wreath of dying flowers hanging on it and a hand reaching to the doorknob from left.

Date:

1931–41

Artist:

Ivan Albright (American, 1897–1983)

About this artwork

Replete with powerful imagery and bearing a long, philosophical title, That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door) is an evocative meditation on the choices and regrets in life. Ivan Albright considered The Door to be his most important picture, and he worked for ten years to achieve its mesmerizing effect. He spent weeks collecting props for the painting: a marred Victorian door found in a junkyard, a faded wax funeral wreath, and a tombstone for the doorsill. Once he arranged these objects, Albright completed an elaborate charcoal underdrawing that he then covered with the intricate and obsessively painted detail that characterizes most of his work. He would often finish no more than a quarter of a square inch a day. A wrinkled, aging woman’s hand rests on the carved doorway, a faded blue handkerchief clenched between the fingers. The poignant placement of the hand, near but not touching the doorknob, only underscores the sense of remorse and mourning implied by the painting. With its profound themes of mortality and the passage of time, The Door is a modern memento mori that encourages a consideration of the brevity of human existence.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Ivan Albright

Title

That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door)

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1931–1941

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed lower right: Ivan Le Lorraine Albright

Dimensions

246.4 × 91.4 cm (97 × 36 in.)

Credit Line

Mary and Leigh Block Charitable Fund

Reference Number

1955.645

Copyright

© The Art Institute of Chicago.

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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