Frank Stella has always been one of my favorites—not just for his technical brilliance, but for his uncompromising intellectualism. The Black Paintings, in particular, stand as some of the most conceptually rigorous works of the 20th century. Minimal but not minimal for effect—they were architectural, structured, and deeply rooted in thought. They weren’t trying to seduce you. They were statements.

Decades ahead of their time, these works rejected expressionism without rejecting seriousness. They made form into argument, surface into philosophy.

Though born in Boston, Stella had a distinctly New York sensibility—fast, dry, unsentimental. You can hear it in his voice and see it in his lines.

He may well be the last major American artist who painted with a commitment to intellectual content over visual appeal. Today’s art world too often privileges aesthetics—slick surfaces, Instagrammable installations—over depth. Stella did the opposite. He painted thought. Sadly today, much of so called “fine art” is solely focused on aesthetics, with no real substance or thought behind the work.