Composition 1960

Jean Fautrier made this ‘Composition’ using watercolour, and it feels like a fleeting thought captured on paper. The grey washes lay the groundwork for something, or maybe everything, to come. I’m drawn to how the colour operates, especially that band of yellow and blue. It doesn’t sit comfortably within the grey, but adds an energy, a sense of vibrancy against the melancholic backdrop. Then those strokes of black ink, like quick, decisive gestures, punctuate the surface and give it rhythm. It reminds me a little of Cy Twombly’s work, in that it’s not about the thing represented, but the act of representing itself. It’s about the performance, the process, and the emotional residue it leaves behind. Fautrier invites us to look beyond the surface, to find our own meanings in the marks. There's no right or wrong way to feel it.