Ellsworth Kelly distilled his observations into precise shapes, creating an abstract visual language rooted in reality. Throughout his career, the artist realized curved forms in a variety of colors, shapes, and materials, continually drawing inspiration from what he saw in the world around him. Menil Curve is one of the last works Kelly completed during his lifetime. With this 2015 commission for the Menil Collection in Houston, Kelly was interested in creating a subtle interplay between the glossy white finish of his painted steel sculpture and the white exterior of the Menil Drawing Institute, mirroring his previous experiments with folded white paper and white-on-white collage. Set against the Hudson Highlands and surrounded by Storm King’s rolling hills, here Menil Curve stands apart from the natural environment while also reflecting its changes through a glossy white surface.