DONALD SULTAN — Contemporary Painter of Modern Still Life, Industrial Materials and Powerful Abstraction

Donald Sultan (b. 1951, Asheville, North Carolina) is a celebrated American contemporary artist known for his bold, large-scale still lifes and commanding use of industrial materials. A central figure in post-1970s contemporary art, Sultan helped redefine the still-life genre through paintings that merge elegance and weight, delicacy and mass, fragility and structure. His signature motifs of lemons, flowers, dominoes, fruit, and abstracted forms appear monumental against tar-black or richly textured grounds, creating some of the most recognizable compositions in modern American painting.

Sultan studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before earning his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He moved to New York in 1975, joining a generation of artists exploring new directions beyond Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. His first solo exhibition was held in 1977, marking the start of a distinguished career that has included painting, sculpture, printmaking, public art, and installation.

Central to Sultan’s practice is his unconventional use of industrial materials. Instead of traditional artist pigments alone, he incorporates roofing tar, linoleum, vinyl, enamel, plaster, aluminum, and spackle, layering and carving into surfaces to create works that are simultaneously sculptural and painterly. He describes his paintings as “heavy structure holding fragile meaning,” revealing tension between material realism and poetic abstraction.

His iconic Lemons series from the 1980s are luminous yellow forms set against deep black tar backgrounds, remaining one of the defining achievements of his career. These striking works highlight Sultan’s strength as both a colorist and a formal innovator, emphasizing contrasts between negative and positive space, matte and shine, hard and soft. Similarly, his tulips, poppies, and domino paintings explore repetition and form with a modern clarity that has made his work instantly identifiable.

Throughout his decades-long career, Sultan has exhibited at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. His work is represented in numerous permanent collections worldwide, including MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Tate Modern.

Sultan’s work is admired for its striking contrasts, material originality, and strong market presence. His paintings and prints resonate with collectors seeking bold imagery, architectural composition, and the tactile beauty of contemporary abstraction. Rich in concept yet visually immediate, his works remain staples of modern American art collections.

Explore Donald Sultan at DTR Modern Galleries

DTR Modern Galleries proudly showcases Donald Sultan’s original paintings, prints, and mixed-media works across our locations in New York City, Boston, Palm Beach, and Washington, D.C. Collectors are invited to explore Sultan’s distinctive vision where industrial materials meet poetic stillness in the heart of our contemporary program.