Claustral 1961

Morris Louis made this beautiful and strange painting, Claustral, using acrylic on canvas, and you can see it here in Richmond, Virginia. The way the colors run down the canvas, it's like watching a controlled experiment in gravity, or maybe a curtain call for colors. It's acrylic, so thin, almost like dye. The paint soaks right into the canvas, becoming one with it. See how the colors at the top kind of bleed into one another, then find their own paths downwards? The yellow is sunny, almost cheerful, while the reds are deeper, more intense. This isn't just paint; it's like a record of an event, a happening. This reminds me a bit of Helen Frankenthaler, another painter who let the paint do its thing. But Louis has this edge, a kind of solemn joy. It's a conversation, an ongoing back-and-forth between artists about what painting can be. It’s not just about what you see, but how you see, and how that makes you feel.