Malwa 1950 - 1955

Victor Vasarely made 'Malwa' sometime in the 20th century, using geometric shapes and a striking limited palette of black, white and blue. I think what’s amazing about a piece like this is how a few colors can be so arresting, so visually loud! Looking closely, the material quality of the paint is smooth, almost slick. The black areas seem to hover, while the white square sits like an anchor, right at the centre, drawing you in. Then, the blue pulls you back out again. There's something very graphic and insistent about the whole image. It reminds me a bit of Sol Lewitt’s wall drawings, where simple geometric forms become a kind of language. With Malwa, Vasarely is doing something similar, making a hard-edged geometry that’s also an emotional experience, maybe even a cosmic one! In its own way, its pure abstraction is very human.