Renate's Nantucket 1965

Editor: This is Hans Hofmann's "Renate's Nantucket," painted in 1965, using acrylic on canvas. It’s...vibrant, I guess is the word that springs to mind. All those clashing blocks of colour, vying for attention. I'm curious – what *you* make of it? What feelings or ideas bubble up when you look at this particular painting? Curator: Ah, yes, Hofmann. I think with "Renate's Nantucket", Hofmann throws us right into the throes of visual sensation. Nantucket, a place so vivid, Hofmann's colours – they don’t just describe a landscape, they *become* the experience of one. Notice that electric orange square – does that remind you a little bit of a sunset or perhaps the side of a building catching the light? Editor: I can see that. It’s almost jarring though. The colours feel so intentionally separate. Curator: Exactly! That separation is the point, perhaps. Hofmann plays with the idea of 'push and pull,' the push of one colour against another creating a visual energy. It's about how we, as viewers, synthesize the chaos, create our own Nantucket in our minds. Does it invite you in? Editor: It's growing on me, the more I think of it as less a picture of a place and more of an emotion. And it makes me think of memories—all broken up and only partially recalled. Curator: I adore that! It's like a memory-scape; impressions layered on top of each other. Maybe that is why this feels so special. It’s like looking at somebody's lovely but imperfect memories of Nantucket Editor: Absolutely. Thanks – you’ve definitely given me a new way of looking at abstract art in general. Curator: And you, my dear, have given me a fresh breeze on an old favorite. Maybe next summer, we see this view for ourselves, eh?