Pete Rose 1975

LeRoy Neiman made this painting of Pete Rose with vibrant strokes and a bold palette that captures the energy of a baseball game. The paint is applied with such physicality, you can almost feel the speed and intensity of the moment. Look at the way Neiman uses these thick, opaque daubs of color – reds, yellows, blues – to build up the forms of the players and the background. There's this incredible sense of movement, as if the painting itself is alive with the thrill of the game. The eye is drawn to the figure of Pete Rose, but the whole image is one overall, energetic field. Neiman's style reminds me a bit of the Fauves, like Matisse, who were also interested in using color expressively. But Neiman brings a distinctly American sensibility to it, capturing the dynamism and excitement of sports culture. His embrace of ambiguity and multiple interpretations is a home run.