Death of a Sidewheeler

During repeated trips to the Deep South in the 1970s, Kelly became enamored of the image of the great steamboats as well as smaller paddlewheelers. Like many of his paintings, "Death of a Sidewheeler" has what one art critic called "the spirit of something sinister and ghostlike." Alongside the derelict and haunted "queen" of the river, Kelly includes a smaller snagboat bearing one of his recurring motifs of the candy stripes of its deck awning, a perversely cheerful note that surfaces even in his darkest paintings, inspiring yet another critic to suggest that he'd be a good illustrator for the works of Kafka.

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