Abstraction 1915

Juan Gris made this painting, Abstraction, in 1915, and it's this beautiful dance of blues, greens, browns, and blacks. I can almost see him, layering these colors, letting the painting emerge through a process of trial, error, and intuition. I wonder, what was Gris thinking when he decided to give such weight to that black shape on the right? It's like a shadow, or maybe a bold statement. And then there's that passage with the newspaper, with these little letters. It's so tactile, you can almost feel the rough texture of the paper. For me, it connects to a lot of what other painters were doing at the time, trying to capture reality, but also trying to break it apart and show it in a new way. Painting is like this ongoing conversation across time, right? We artists are always responding to each other, inspiring each other. And it’s so bodily, it's like a conversation with your hands and eyes. It’s about feeling your way through the ambiguity, towards something that feels true, even if it's not fixed or definite.