Komposition mit Kreis 1927

Adolf Hölzel made this with pastel, and what emerges is a conversation of colour and form. You can feel the artist feeling his way through the composition. Imagine Hölzel in the act of creating, layering colours and shapes with a sense of intuitive exploration. What was it like to drag the pastels across the surface? Did he pause, step back, and squint at the canvas to refine the composition? The circle, rendered in shades of pink and blue, pulls you into its orbit, while the surrounding forms, rendered in oranges, yellows, and blues, dance around it, each with its own distinct energy. I think of Kandinsky and the German Expressionists who were active during the same period. There’s a similar urge towards abstraction, a desire to capture something beyond the surface of representation. These painters were all in conversation, grappling with similar ideas about the power of art to evoke emotion and express inner states. Painting is embodied, it's an expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.