A student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts from 1946-48, Ellsworth Kelley has gone on to be one of the most significant proponents of non-representational art in the Post-War period. Black Panel II belongs to a series of shaped monochrome canvasses that the artist sees as the fulfillment of three decades of work. At first sight, the work's shape and darkness seem aggressively bold, though with prolonged viewing from a variety of angles, the piece acquires great ambiguity, even fragility. The shape proves to be subtle, evoking different readings and imagined perspective, while the black comes to life, appearing either darker or lighter.

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