Spartans (1991)

This is a nearly monochromatic series of paintings on enameled or anodized aluminum with silkscreened imagery taken from Rauschenberg’s own black-and-white photographs. The ground color and imagery are nearly identical in hue, recalling Rauschenberg’s earlier single-color paintings from the early 1950s. The series title acknowledges the spare color palette used for the imagery and its similarity to the background color.