He later became loosely associated with the second generation of abstract expressionists, including Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler, who were increasingly interested in the expressive use of color.

[1] While in Paris he became associated with Tachisme, and had his work championed by art critics Michel Tapié and Claude Duthuit ( the son-in-law of the painter Henri Matisse).

[1] Between 1950 and 1958 Francis spent time and painted in Paris, the south of France, Tokyo, Mexico City, Bern and New York.

After his 1953 painting Big Red was included in the 1956 exhibition Twelve Artists at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Francis began a rapid rise to international prominence.

Consisting of biomorphic predominantly blue forms and drips, these works referenced the pain that resulted from the renal tuberculosis that he suffered in 1961.

In 1965 Francis started a series of paintings that featured large areas of open canvas, minimal color and strong line.

He was extremely active as a printmaker, creating numerous etchings, lithographs and monotypes, many of which were executed in Santa Monica at the Litho Shop, which Francis owned.

In 1984 Francis founded the Lapis Press with the goal of producing unusual and timely texts in visually compelling formats.

[9] Because he worked and exhibited in the United States, Europe and Asia, Sam Francis is credited with helping secure international recognition for postwar American painting.

On November 9, 2022, Composition in black and blue, a 1955 Francis oil on canvas, sold for $13,557,500 at the Paul Allen sale at Christies, New York.

Its stated mission is to "research, document, protect and perpetuate the creative legacy of the artist" and "promote awareness of and knowledge about the art of Sam Francis to the public through education and information.

[1] The foundation published, in collaboration with the University of California Press, a Catalogue Raisonné of Francis' Canvas and Panel Paintings, 1946 – 1994.