Picture T 21 1922

Willi Baumeister’s ‘Picture T 21’ is a painting that seems constructed, like a building made of shapes, or maybe a puzzle of forms that never quite resolves. The color palette is limited, earthy tones of pink, grey, and black, creating a sense of depth through overlapping planes. Looking closely, the texture feels smooth and matte, almost like the pigment has been pressed into the surface, which gives the painting a really nice, tactile quality. My eye keeps returning to that pink rectangle at the bottom, and that little black semi-circle, there is a sense of play in how these elements are arranged. Baumeister's work has a kinship with artists like El Lissitzky. They both used geometry to explore new ways of seeing the world and creating art which embraced ambiguity.