Throughout the 1940s Dorr Bothwell experimented with Surrealism and the abstraction that arises from exploring its gestural aspects, such as with this drawing, which lives up to its title.
"Exuberance" is a structured explosion of black and with lines and touches of color, done using watercolor, ink and casein in 1949. The outer edges of the the composition is painted with a brown wash, creating a halo of light around the central "Exuberance".