Open Window 1961

I imagine Moshe Kupferman made this painting, Open Window, with oil paint, maybe even scraping it on with a palette knife and thinning it with turpentine. There are these vertical marks pulled down the canvas, almost like rain or tears. I wonder if he stood up close to the canvas or if he stepped back to see the whole thing coming together? The colors are muted, like an old photograph, mostly grayed-out blues, yellows, and pinks. I'm especially drawn to the ladder-like structure in the center – is it a ladder, or a window? I can almost feel him hovering over the canvas, making decisions, changing his mind. A painting like this isn't about answers, you know? It's about the questions, the searching, the trying to figure something out without quite knowing what that something is. Painters have been looking at each other's work for centuries. It’s a big, ongoing conversation. They give each other courage and permission. It’s not about copying. It's about being part of this messy, beautiful thing we call art.