The theme of the industrial and technological power of the United States, embodied in the engineering masterwork of the Brooklyn Bridge, was one that Stella explored repeatedly.

The overall composition of Bridge calls to mind an altarpiece. Massive cables arc upward, and we glimpse indistinct city skyscrapers through the archways. Framing the bottom of the painting (like a predella, the base of an altar) are black, gray, electric-blue, and luminous yellow circles representing subways — the veins and arteries that connect the inhabitants of New York's vast landscape.