Vier gleiche farbgruppen im weissen feld 1969

This is Max Bill’s ‘Four equal colour groups in a white field’ and I'm guessing it was made with acrylic or maybe oil, given the crispness of the lines. I can almost see Bill, focused and precise, laying down each stripe with unwavering control. I imagine the white field as a space of contemplation, a blank canvas where these four colour groups can interact. There's a certain joyfulness in the colours – the reds, blues, greens, and oranges feel so optimistic. It’s almost like colour therapy. When I see this piece I think of Sol LeWitt and the other geometric abstractionists. They were probably all drinking from the same well. It’s like a visual puzzle, an investigation into the relationships between form and colour. Bill wasn’t afraid of a clean line, or a bold colour statement, and in this painting, we get both in spades!