Mist 1961

Adolph Gottlieb's 'Mist' is made with oil on canvas, and right away, I imagine him in the studio, pushing paint around, making marks, maybe wiping them away. There’s something elemental here. A glowing orb hovers above a dark, weighty mass. Was he thinking about the moon? A dark void? The push and pull between these two forms, the light and the dark, feels so primal. Look closely, and you’ll see how the paint is applied thinly in layers. I am a painter and I can sense Gottlieb building up the surface, allowing the colors to breathe and blend, each gesture contributing to this atmospheric effect. It reminds me of Rothko's stacked rectangles or maybe Newman's zips, but with a more organic feel. These artists were all in conversation, each exploring the limits of painting, finding new ways to express something profound. 'Mist' embodies a kind of quiet searching. It's not about answers, but about the questions that emerge in the act of painting itself.