Untitled c. late 1950s

Franz Kline made this untitled painting, probably in the 1950’s, with oil and enamel on paper. What strikes me is how immediate it feels, like a thought caught on the fly. Kline’s mark-making feels raw, gestural, and unresolved. You can almost feel him wrestling with the composition, trying to pin down something elusive. It’s funny, the colors here aren’t his usual black and white, but these transparent reds, greens, and purples. They are staining into the paper. See that triangle in the middle? It's not quite solid, the color varies. Kline's paintings always remind me of Robert Motherwell’s work. Both artists embrace chance and improvisation. Like poetry, painting is never quite resolved. It’s in the process, not the final product, that meaning emerges.