“My pictures are full of climates, abstract climates,” said Helen Frankenthaler, “not nature per se, but a feeling.” A great American artist, Frankenthaler rose to prominence during the 1950s, breaking through to her soak-stain technique with the 1952 painting Mountains and Sea. An important abstract expressionist, Frankenthaler’s art was not as thematic or sequential as that of her peers. She often evoked elements of landscape and figuration, hailing the volatility of the physical universe. In this exhibition at Gagosian, the earliest work dates to 1952 (pre Mountains and Sea), while 13 others span later decades. The gradual replacement of lines with lush stained color is fascinating. —E.C.