Couple in Bed

Contemporary Art

1977

Philip Guston
American, born Canada, 1913–1980

An established painter of some of the most poetic Abstract Expressionist painting of the late 1950s, Guston gradually abandoned abstraction in the 1960s in favor of seemingly crude, cartoonish, images drawn from memory. In Couple in Bed, Guston lays in bed with his wife, Musa, their faces pressed together as one in the manner of Brancusi’s The Kiss. Here the artist holds his brushes as tightly as he does his wife, who in May of 1977 suffered a series of debilitating strokes.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Contemporary Art

Artist: Philip Guston
Title: Couple in Bed
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.: 1977
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 206.2 × 240.3 cm (81 1/8 × 94 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Through prior bequest of Frances W. Pick, and memorial gift from her daughter, Mary P. Hines
Reference Number: 1989.435

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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.

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