Despite rejecting the concept of influence and the idea of engaging in dialogue with other artists through exhibitions, Ryman undeniably occupies an important place in the history of art.

Like Monet, whose  iconic masterpiece, the Nymphéas, permanently occupies the The Musée de l'Orangerie, Ryman obsessively examines the specifics of his chosen medium: surface, boundaries, spatial integration and the  interplay of light. Through his discerning eye,  painting is stripped down to its bare essentials.