Balloons 1963

Alexander Calder made "Balloons" in 1963 with gouache on paper. Look at the way he’s used those juicy colors, like he's just letting them burst onto the page. It feels like he was really in the moment, not trying to control things too much. You can almost feel the texture of the paper and see how the colors bleed and blend. He used a simple brush to create each balloon shape and then filled them in with these vibrant, contrasting colors. Then he let the paint drip down, so it feels like they are bobbing and floating in the air. Look at the balloon on the upper right, how the blue ink is contained and then the thin line pulls the eye down to the bottom right, this detail helps guide the eye. Calder was a master of playful abstraction, and it makes me think of Joan Miró, how he used simple shapes and bold colors to create a sense of joy and spontaneity. It's a reminder that art can be about letting go and just having fun with the process.