Phenomena When I Looked Away 1960
Oil and enamel on canvas 79 x 62 inches

"One of the last of the oil paintings, it takes its name from the experience which Goethe described upon looking into the smithy's fire. He turned and looked into the bank of black coal and saw an array of optic color which remained on his retina for a time before vanishing. This observation by Goethe provided still another important validation of Jenkins' own feelings about phenomena and thus it remained in his mind to serve as a title.
The painting is vivid and decisive and also mysterious and labyrinthine. It could well remind one of Fitzsimmons' comment from 1954 regarding the voyager returning with treasures from the unknown. The treasure is bathed in reflective light and creates its own luminosity."
Gerald Nordland

From Paul Jenkins, with text by Gerald Nordland and acknowledgements by Philippe de Montebello, published on the occasion of the artist's retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1971) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1972).

Australia
Canberra, Australian National Gallery.
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria.

Austria
Vienna, Albertina Museum.

Canada
Montréal, Musée d'art contemporain.
Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario.

France
Antibes, Musée Picasso.
Dunkirk, Musée d'art contemporain.Nice. Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain.
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou and Musée national d'art moderne. 
Paris, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Paris, Fonds National de l'Art Contemporain du Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght.
Toulouse, Les Abattoirs, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain.
Villeneuve d'Ascq, Musée d'art moderne.

Germany
Cologne, Kölnischer Kunstverein.
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum.
Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft.
Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek.
Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie.

Israel
Jerusalem, Israel Museum.
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Japan
Hiroshima, Museum of Contemporary Art.
Osaka, National Museum of Art.
Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art.
Tokyo, Seibu Museum.
Toyama, Museum of Modern Art.

Netherlands
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum.

United Kingdom
Aberwstwyth, University School of Art Gallery and Museum.
Belfast, Ulster Museum, National Museum Northern Ireland.
Cardiff, National Museum of Wales.
Kendal, Abbot Hall Art Gallery.
Kingston upon Hull, Ferens Art Gallery.
Lancaster, Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University.
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery.
London, British Museum.
London, Tate.
London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Oldham, Gallery Oldham.

United States
Albany, The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection.
Albany, Albany Institute of History and Art.
Amherst, Mead Art Museum.
Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Museum of Art.
Austin, University of Texas Art Museum, Huntingdon Art Gallery.
Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art.
Berkeley, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley.
Boca Raton, Boca Raton Museum of Art.
Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Art Museum.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts.
Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
Buffalo, UB Art Galleries, State University of New York at Buffalo.
Cambridge, Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University Art Museums.
Cambridge, Albert and Vera List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Champaign, Krannert Art Museum.
Charlotte, Mint Museum of Art.
Chattanooga, Hunter Museum of American Art.
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.
Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art.
Corpus Christi, South Texas Institute for the Arts.
Des Moines, Des Moines Art Center.
Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts.
Durham, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
East Hampton, Guild Hall.
Flint, Flint Institute of Arts.
Fort Lauderdale, Museum of Art.
Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Art Museum.
Hamilton, Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University.
Hempstead, Hofstra Museum of Art.
Honolulu, Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Honolulu, The Contemporary Museum.
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Jacksonville, Museum of Contemporary Art.
Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Lafayette, Greater Lafayette Museum of Art.
Lawrence, Spencer Museum of Art.
Lincoln, DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park.
Little Rock, Arkansas Arts Center.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Louisville, J. B. Speed Art Museum.
Madison, Chazen Museum of Art.
Memphis, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum.
Minneapolis, Walker Art Center.
New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art.
New York, Brooklyn Museum.
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
New York, Morgan Library and Museum.
New York, Museum of Modern Art.
New York, New York University Art Collection.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art.
Norfolk, Chrysler Museum.
Norman, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Palm Springs, Palm Springs Desert Museum.
Palo Alto, The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum.
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art.
Portland, Maine, Portland Museum of Art.
Ridgefield, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art.
Sacramento, Crocker Art Museum.
San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art.
San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art.
Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Santa Fe, Museum of Fine Arts.
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California.
Seattle, Seattle Art Museum.
South Hadley, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.
Springfield, Missouri, Springfield Museum of Art.
Stanford, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts.
Savannah, Telfair Museum of Art.
Terre Haute, Sheldon Swope Art Gallery.
Tucson, University of Arizona Museum of Fine Arts.
Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution.
Washington, D.C., The Kreeger Museum.
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art.
Williamstown, Williams College Museum of Art.
Worcester, Worcester Art Museum.
Youngstown, Butler Institute of American Art.