Ellsworth Kelly was born in Newburgh, New York, in 1923. His first one-person exhibition was held in 1951 in Paris, where the artist was studying on the G.I. Bill following World War II. He returned to the United States in 1954, renting a studio in downtown New York City, and his position among America’s most esteemed painters began to take form. Since that time, the artist’s work has been the subject of numerous major retrospectives worldwide and is presently included in all of the most important public collections of contemporary art. Kelly currently lives and works in upstate New York.