Les flèches 1976

Alexander Calder made this mobile, Les flèches, out of metal, paint and wire. It’s all about the poetry of simple movement, the balance, the give-and-take. The colours are bold and primary, like something straight out of a kid’s toy box. There’s this bright orange, almost fluorescent, that’s holding the whole thing up, and then a playful dance of yellow, white, blue and black at the top. The shapes themselves are so straightforward – triangles with little darts cut out of them – but they create this complex interplay as they float around. I love the way Calder exposes how he put things together; there’s no hiding the wire or the connections. It’s like he’s saying, "Here it is, this is how it works," but still leaving room for a bit of magic. It’s like a drawing in space, a doodle made solid, and it reminds me a little of Joan Miró’s playfulness with form and color. It captures something essential about art, which is that it doesn’t always have to make sense – it just has to move you.