The Guggenheim Museum is presenting the first posthumous major retrospective of the work of American painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004).

Categorisations and labels are always reductive and fail in general to precisely identify the singularities of individual artists. Minimalism for example has historically been defined as a reaction to the painterly subjectivity of Abstract Expressionism and its believe of transcendence and sentiment; a reduction to surface and material completely devoid of any sort of subjective emotion. Agnes Martin defies categorisations and bridges with elegance these two seemingly opposite movements narrowed most of the times by art critics defending their turf.

While Martin’s spare work, made of lines, grids, dots, and a very subdued palette belongs to the minimalists, the powerful emotions they emanate are much closer to a Mark Rothko. She actually ended up describing herself more as an Abstract Expressionist (despite her previous efforts to move away from the legacy of those artists). She said: “I want people, when they look at my paintings, to have the same feelings they experience when they look at landscapes… It’s really about the feeling of beauty and freedom that you experience in landscape”.

Her titles, often referencing feelings of innocence and love, move away, once again, from the object description of the minimalists, to embrace a very personal vision of love and live, instilled in part by her interest in Taoism. Titles like I love the whole world (2009), Loving Love (1999), Blessings (2000) or Gratitude (2001) describe this desire to depict the abstract feelings of happiness and other positive emotions. She believed that love was a unifying, positive force. She would say: “Love is all around us like air; pressing on us, making us more like love.”

Martin’s paintings, like when looking at a Rothko, have this emotional intensity that brings you to tears. One wonders what’s that magic behind those lines and color fields. But unlike him, she died in peace at 93 years old. The two last titled paintings of the show, the year before she died, are called The Sea (2003) and Homage to Life (2003). That’s what’s this show is all about, an homage to her life and work, which are indistinguishable.

Abstract Emotion Agnes Martin show at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, until 11 January 2017. October 2016