Ontwerp voor een merk voor ieder huis in eigendom bij de Algemeene Maatschappij van Levensverzekering en Lijfrente te Amsterdam 1904 - 1908

Hendrik Petrus Berlage made this design for a brand in pen and watercolor. I can just imagine him there at his desk carefully mapping out his geometric matrix, with the right angles of the square offset by the soft curves of the interior circles. There's something so deliberate about the overall symmetry, the way the squares and circles meet in perfect balance with the orange, almost terracotta interior. The blue outline almost vibrates against the background and I wonder how long he labored to get the shades just right. For me, the real action in this piece is in the contrast between Berlage's rigid precision and the playful, organic quality of the colors which seem to soften and humanize the underlying geometry. Color is an amazing thing, isn't it? This tension between the rational and the intuitive is common in the practices of many artists, designers, and architects. It's an ongoing conversation across time, where people inspire one another's creativity.