Red Tree is a graphic by the American artist Alex Katz. It was produced as a pigment print in 2024.

“I had this idea that I wanted to paint an afterimage; it started with Matisse’s Red Studio (1911), which is an afterimage. Supposedly, that is why Matisse painted the studio red, because he had been out in the garden on a bright day-outdoors in the green-and he walked in the door and got a flash of red. In my mind, I can see that red room, and that’s where I am.

It’s a visual phenomenon that is not often repeated, but most people should have had it once in their life. I had the idea that I wanted to paint it more concrete than Matisse, so I did a big painting and it was a success. It looks like a 1914 semi-abstract thing. American-a little stiff-but the effect was successful. One brush, one color. Like thin ice.”
Alex Katz, 2024

Alex Katz is particularly famous for his figurative paintings: The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, he was born in New York in 1927. As a pioneer of Pop Art, he always concentrated on the essentials and explored simplified forms and high-contrast color composition early on. His art is diverse, but always has beauty as its central theme. The artist can now look back on more than 200 solo and around 500 group exhibitions; his diverse works are part of over 100 collections worldwide. Alex Katz lives and works in New York and Maine.