Rancho Mirage by Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra
1915-1998 | American

Rancho Mirage

Signed "Sinatra '89" (lower right)
Inscribed "Frank Sinatra / Rancho Mirage / 1989"(en verso)
Oil on canvas

Frank Sinatra is unquestionably one of the most iconic music legends of the 20th century and is widely considered among the greatest American singers of pop music of all time. Aside from his music and his acting, Sinatra was also a talented painter, spending his leisure time creating colorful canvases inspired by the most popular painters of his day. The present oil on canvas is a striking example of the work he created on canvas, showing the influence of the great American abstract artists.

A lover of art for his entire life, Sinatra became a collector of significance after his rise to fame, acquiring works by both modern and postmodern painters. These works influenced the singer's artistic style, which tended towards the abstraction that dominated the postmodern age. Rancho Mirage stands out among other paintings in Sinatra's oeuvre for its monumental, almost panoramic scale. Combined with the immersive size of the canvas, the artist's effusive application of paint into three thick blocks of color recalls the reflective paintings of Mark Rothko and other Color Field painters. As both an ode to the legacy of American abstraction and a bold work of art in its own right, the painting is a truly exceptional creation.

Born in 1915 to Italian immigrants in New Jersey, Frank Sinatra rose to fame in the early 1940s, singing first with the famed "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" Tommy Dorsey, and later striking out on his own as a solo artist. His career blossomed in the mid-1940s thanks to a series of successful, chart-topping singles when his baritone earned him the moniker "The Sultan of Swoon." He made his debut as an actor in 1943 with the film Reveille with Beverley, and in 1945, he won an Academy Award for the short film The House I Live In.

By the mid-1960s, Sinatra was an icon. He famously became the founding member of the "Rat Pack," an informal group of Las Vegas entertainers that also included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and others. Sinatra briefly retired from his long-standing gig at Caesars Palace in the early 1970s, and it was during this period away from the stage when he painted the present work. Yet, he eventually returned and would continue to perform until 1995, when he played his last show at the age of 79. He died just three years later of a heart attack at the age of 82. Today, Sinatra memorabilia, particularly such personal objects as his paintings, are highly prized by both lovers of his music and lovers of fine art.

Dated 1989

Canvas: 61 1/8" high x 51 1/4" wide
Frame: 62 1/8" high x 52 1/4" wide x 1 1/2" deep