
Blues and Silvers
9 works

Wall Poppy Oct 15 (Blue, Red, Yellow), 2024
Shaped aluminum with acrylic polyurethane paint and black flock
34 x 36 in; 86.4 x 91.4 cm
Edition
Edition of 30
Donald Sultan is an American contemporary artist known for his bold, graphic prints that transform everyday subjects—particularly flowers and fruit—into powerful, minimalist compositions. His work bridges the worlds of abstraction and representation, often reimagining traditional still-life themes through industrial materials and a distinctly modern sensibility. A recurring motif in Sultan’s prints is the poppy, a flower he returns to repeatedly for its balance of fragility and resilience. Rendered in flat, saturated fields of red, black, or yellow, his poppies are both sensuous and monumental, their simplified forms hovering between organic and geometric. The flower in Sultan’s hands becomes an emblem of beauty under tension—elegant yet weighty, delicate yet architecturally solid. Another hallmark of Sultan’s printmaking is his use of cutouts and silhouettes. Negative space plays a central role in his compositions: blossoms, fruit, and other motifs are often reduced to stark outlines or punctured forms, creating a visual push and pull between presence and absence. These voids lend his work a sculptural quality, evoking both the flatness of print and the depth of relief. Sultan’s prints—often executed in techniques such as lithography, screenprint, and aquatint—reflect his fascination with contrasts: between natural and industrial, beauty and decay, softness and structure. Through his recurring motifs of poppies, flowers, and cutout forms, Sultan builds a distinctive visual language that is at once elegant, graphic, and deeply tactile.
Price on Application
Auction History

Mimosas, October 2, 2006 · Donald Sultan · Phillips · 2025-10 · $7,095

Mimosas, October 2, 2006 · Donald Sultan · Phillips · 2025-10 · $7,095

Wallflower 8; Wallflower 35, from the Wallflower Suite · Donald Sultan · Bonhams · 2025-06 · $2,304

Black Rose, Oct., 1989, from Black Roses · Donald Sultan · Phillips · 2025-04 · $1,016

Wallflower 28; Wallflower 34, from Wallflowers (2 works) · Donald Sultan · Bonhams · 2024-12 · $1,216

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