Francesco Clemente Three Rainbows Author:Derek Walcott, Francesco Clemente Francesco Clemente's new Three Rainbows project had a prolonged gestation; for years he had wanted to use watercolor and to paint rainbows, but only recently did the moment ripen. Three Rainbows began as three 60-foot long rainbow paintings--probably the largest watercolors ever made. For Clemente, whose attraction to given forms (... more »such as the mandala) has long formed an integral part of his iconography, the rainbow suggests a number of important interpretations: it is a bridge (and therefore a structure that brings things together), a phenomenon that occurs after a period of darkness (Clemente's works of recent years had darkened noticeably) and a reversible image capable of leading the eye in opposite directions. The artist's affinity for watercolor derives in part from the medium's immediacy--an ideal vehicle for Allen Ginsberg's "first thought, best thought"--and these works betray his spontaneity and joy in making them.« less