Untitled [reclining nude resting her head on a seated nude] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this ink wash drawing of two nudes on paper and look at how he’s built up these figures with these fluid strokes, like he’s feeling his way around the forms, almost tentatively. I can imagine him, cigarette dangling, squinting at the models, trying to get the light and shadow just right. There's a beautiful economy of line here, a sense of capturing the essence of the pose, but with a looseness that keeps it alive. Diebenkorn was always playing with representation and abstraction. Here, the dark washes create depth and volume, but they also flatten the space, pushing the figures forward. It reminds me a little of Matisse, that same interest in line and the way it defines form. That dark, sweeping gesture across the top right corner…it’s like he’s saying, "I’m not just copying what I see, I'm making something new, something that exists only on this paper, in this moment." And isn’t that what painting is all about? That ongoing conversation between artists, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways?