Instead of composing an image, the New York artist Ellsworth Kelly believed in “choosing things out there in the world and presenting them.” He chose a shape and simplified it, a strategy that gave rise to his mesmerizing color fields. Kelly was born in 1923 in Newburgh, New York, a town in Orange County. He died eight years ago, in 2015, at age 92. Qatar Museums marks Kelly’s centennial, which is still ongoing in 2024, with a major survey. Works on view include the early masterpieces Painting for a White Wall (1952) and Painting in Three Panels (1956), and a monumental work from 1990, Yellow Curve—a 100-square-foot floor painting installation that hasn’t been exhibited for three decades. —Elena Clavarino