In this paper, I focus on the appropriations of three paintings from Robert Motherwell’s series “Elegy to the Spanish Republic” (1963–75)—Five in the Afternoon, (1949), Elegy to the Spanish Republic 100 (1963–75) and Reconciliation Elegy (1978)—in order to address the question of  how an artist might “borrow” from Motherwell’s images to engage in an act of reconciliation in my country, Australia, today. What is at stake in such an act? Can one, ethically, invoke not just the name or the sentiment embodied in Motherwell’s “Elegies,” but also the forces that operate in the work?

In setting out the argument, I propose that it is necessary not only to attend to what is pictured but also to address the conditions through which these works work. I propose that, figured performatively, appropriation or citation of Motherwell’s “Elegies to a Spanish Republic” is not about re-presenting or reproducing forms, but rather is concerned with invoking the imperceptible forces beneath perception. Thus, the task of working with Motherwell’s compositions is not just technical, nor is it merely undertaken to invoke the name and history of Robert Motherwell. The act of appropriation asks that the artist doing the appropriation attend to the ghosts operating in and through the work, unleash them and allow them to come to bear upon the viewer.