Bridget Riley, Elysium, 2003/1973. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2016

35. Elysium

ArtistBridget Riley
Year2003/1973
MediumAcrylic on canvas
Dimensions10234 × 9278 in. (261 × 236 cm)
CollectionThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2016

Riley often reworks her paintings and finishes them at a later date, demonstrating continuity in her practice. Elysium developed from a series of small studies made in 1973, but it was set aside and not fully realized as a painting until 2003. Elysium extends the color relationships of earlier paintings, but these have a softer glow, achieved through the interplay of magenta, turquoise, and olive with white intervals.