As a child Robert Smithson created a personal museum of natural history in the basement of his family home. This early interest in science, geography, and museums influenced many of Smithson’s artworks throughout his life. Between 1961 and 1963, Smithson created a series of collages showing evolving amphibians and dinosaurs, developing out of this childhood interest in natural history museums. Algae, algae combines collage turtles with the use of language as a visual tool, its accumulation of text suggesting the movement of the sea's dark green waves.

In this collaged painting from 1963 titled Tear, Robert Smithson creates an otherworldly imagined landscape. Below a vibrant green sky looms a large landmass composed of energetic dark painted lines that mimic plant forms with bold splashes of red, pink, purple, and orange. In the sky above, eight collaged eyes float suspended, staring back at the viewer. Beneath each eye the word “tear” cascades down from the tear duct in the corner of each eye.

A photograph of a pin-up girl, her nipples connected via wire to a rudimentary electrical circuit, swoons against a hot pink background encased in plexiglass. This boldly lurid sculpture seems a far cry from Smithson’s renowned earthworks. Indeed, this aspect of Smithson’s artistic production is not often included in the dialogue surrounding his oeuvre, yet its vivid transgressions and outspoken social commentary demand recognition.