The «Open» series was born when Motherwell noticed the enticing «congress of shapes» created by a smaller rectangular painting leaning up against a larger canvas in his studio.
This is palpable in his recent painting Man / Partition (2008), which depicts the artist in his studio resting his head against a free - standing white canvas.
Minute touches, quivering in isolation against the white of canvas and wall, conveyed prolonged deliberation, patience, and ruminative looking in the studio.