Taureau I 1961

Le Corbusier made this mixed media work on paper with newspaper collage, ink, and watercolor. Looking at it, I think about how the painting is put together, bit by bit. The collage elements create this layered, textured ground, almost like a foundation upon which the rest of the work emerges. I imagine him in his studio, shuffling things around, testing out these different shapes and lines. What does it feel like to find the right configuration for a line? The curve of a line seems especially playful. Does it denote an arm, a shoulder, the back of a bull? The collage, the drawing, all these elements are traces of his decisions, and the whole thing reads to me like one big question mark. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation, whether with each other or themselves. We all want to be understood, but we’re also trying to understand, right? Ultimately it's this openness and ambiguity that I love most about painting.