Composition 1963

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this watercolor composition, we don't know when, but it doesn't really matter, does it? What's really interesting about this piece is how Havrylenko builds up these hazy blocks of color; it's like he's figuring out the painting as he goes along. There's something so tender about the way these colors bleed into each other. I see a kind of vulnerability in that, like he's letting the paint do its own thing, which reminds me of the work of Paul Klee, who let the process lead him. Look at the watery blues at the top of the painting - how they're stacked in layers. It's as though he's playing with transparency and opacity to create depth. It's like the painting becomes an act of listening. Ultimately, this piece really does celebrate the beauty of ambiguity. It invites us to bring our own stories and experiences to it, and it reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation, not a set of fixed ideas.