In New York, he studied contemporary European art, and his work of the 1930s reveals the effect of such artists as Cézanne, Miro, Pablo Picasso, Braque, Léger, and many others. From the early 1940s, through the rediscovery of the American countryside and assimilation of surrealism, Gorky had found his leadership. For the next seven decades, until his death at age forty-four, he painted highly original abstractions that unite memories of his Armenian youth with surrealist fantasies in functions characterized by billowing shapes and exotic colours.
As it defined his adolescent years, tragedy formed the conclusion of Gorky's life. A fire in his Connecticut studio ruined over thirty of his works. Following an operation for cancer and a debilitating car crash, he had been abandoned by his wife and two kids.
As it defined his teenage years, tragedy shaped the end of Gorky's life. A fire in his Connecticut studio destroyed more than thirty of his works. After an operation for cancer and a debilitating car crash, he was abandoned by his wife and two children. On 21 July 1948 Gorky committed suicide.
