What are Ad Reinhardt's final black paintings called?

Ad Reinhardt’s final black paintings are called *Ultimate paintings*.

The phrase refers to Reinhardt’s late series of austere, nearly black square canvases, developed chiefly from the late 1950s into the 1960s. Their surfaces contain subtle blue-black divisions and geometric structures that emerge slowly as the viewer’s eyes adjust.

Reinhardt described these works as “last paintings,” presenting them as an endpoint for painting stripped of narrative, illusion, symbolism, and personal expression. He also used the related terms “black paintings” and “ultimate paintings,” which is why several labels can appear in museum writing.

The alternatives are easy to confuse with the answer. *Monochromes* is a broad category for single-color paintings, while *Black Square* is most strongly associated with Kazimir Malevich. “Black on Black” is a descriptive phrase used for various artists’ works, not Reinhardt’s canonical series name.

Reinhardt’s reductionist approach became influential for Minimalism and later conceptual art, even though he remained associated with Abstract Expressionism.