Sixth Station 1962

Barnett Newman made "Sixth Station" with oil on canvas, and you can see he’s really pared things down. The canvas is mostly this creamy, off-white field, then there's a stark black stripe, or what he called a "zip," running vertically. There is also a black section at the left. Looking at it, I feel like he's really thinking about the act of painting, the pure physicality of it. The paint isn't super thick, but you can sense the texture, the way the brush moved. That zip isn't perfectly straight, it wavers a little, and that’s where the magic is. It’s not trying to be a machine-made line, but something human. That zip is everything. It’s like a division, but also a connection, holding the space together. It reminds me a bit of Mondrian, but way more raw and emotional. Newman isn't just making a pretty picture; he's trying to get at something fundamental about existence, the push and pull of forces, the yeah and the nah, and the mystery of the present moment.