Sam Gilliam (b. Tupelo, Mississippi, 1933) is considered one of the foremost abstract artists in the United States. He studied at the University of Louisville and has taught at the Corcoran School of Art, the Maryland Institute College of Art and Carnegie Mellon University. Gilliam's works are displayed in collections at the National Museum of American Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, among many others. To celebrate the 1987 opening of the Smithsonian's S. Dillon Ripley Center, Sam Gilliam was commissioned to create the abstract work aptly titled In Celebration. This work was inspired by Reval's musical composition "Pavane for a Dead Princess."