These early works, known as the “Black Paintings,” were chosen by The Museum of Modern Art in the fall of 1959 to be included in their show entitled Sixteen Americans. Their debut is credited with the launch of the minimalist movement of the 1960s. The original asking price for a Black Painting was $75. Today, forty-four years later, the seminal works sell for over $5 million dollars.

Born in 1936 in Malden, Massachusetts to an affluent family, Stella first began painting while in prep school at Phillips Academy in Andover. His father, a gynecologist, encouraged him to go to a top Ivy League school, and when the time came for Stella to decide, he chose Princeton for its proximity to the New York art scene. (continued)