Pancho Villa, Dead and Alive 1943

Robert Motherwell made this painting, Pancho Villa, Dead and Alive, with what looks like acrylic or maybe oil, and definitely a brush or two. Motherwell works with a mix of control and accident. Look at the thick black outlines, almost cartoonish in their boldness, but then notice how they bleed and stutter, revealing the hand and the messiness of the process. The surface texture varies wildly, from smooth, thinly washed areas to thicker, impasto-like strokes. There’s a real push-and-pull between flat planes of color and areas that suggest depth or texture. I’m drawn to the way he uses color to create a mood. The muted grays and browns feel somber, but then there are flashes of red and yellow that jolt you awake. It’s like he’s trying to capture the complexities of life and death, violence and beauty all in one go. You can definitely see the influence of the surrealists and Dadaists in his work, but he’s also doing his own thing, forging a new path for abstraction. It’s a conversation across time and space, an ongoing exploration of what it means to be human.