Untitled 1995

Curator: This is an untitled drawing by Louise Bourgeois, created in 1995. Editor: Whoa. It feels...tense. All those red lines, like taut wires. And it's so symmetrical, but the symmetry feels aggressive, not calming. What's going on there? Curator: The geometry is certainly striking. The radial lines and intersecting triangles suggest a sort of fragmented mirror image. As an iconographer, I’m interested in the colour red. It’s charged. Depending on the culture it can signal vitality, passion, aggression or warning. It has enormous emotional and symbolic power, from cave paintings to corporate branding. Editor: Yes, red feels dangerous. Is that little red square in the middle some kind of… nucleus? Curator: Potentially, in its position at the heart of the image, we might consider that central point, or even those two similar nodal points in the broader composition as representing focal points for radiating energy, or even two separate identities or perspectives. Bourgeois often explored themes of childhood trauma and complex relationships. The lines may echo fragmented memories, a fracturing and analysis. Editor: You're right, it's like two personalities staring each other down. And the sharpness, the lack of shading… It is unsettling. Makes you wonder what kind of psychological space Bourgeois was exploring here. And I like the slightly wonky lines, just imperfect enough to make it all the more poignant. If this was mathematically exact it wouldn’t grab you so much, or maybe I wouldn't trust it. Curator: Exactly! The small deviations from perfect geometry are crucial. It reveals the vulnerability beneath the abstract forms. Also consider that her own childhood was affected by the First World War – trauma on that scale finds its ways into artistic exploration. Editor: So, less about diagrams and more about dissecting feeling? Curator: Yes, a vital diagram of feeling. As modernists broke with naturalism, artists like Bourgeois were trying to represent and understand emotion in an age of psychological inquiry. The personal made universal. Editor: Well, I think that makes this sharp, tense red drawing feel all the more human. Curator: Absolutely, thank you for sharing your response. A lasting artwork speaks in new and surprising ways through different individual perspectives.