Seine 1951

Ellsworth Kelly made *Seine* using black and white paint to explore an interesting relationship between chaos and order. I can almost feel Kelly’s hand moving, placing each square with a kind of meditative precision, maybe even a little obsessiveness. Think about what it must have been like, the repetition, the focus, the way the image slowly emerged from a blank canvas. The squares accumulate, dense clusters of black and white, that then dissipate, leaving space. I wonder if Kelly felt a sense of control, or perhaps a surrender to the process, as he built up this network of tiny shapes. This piece reminds me of Agnes Martin's grids, but with a twist. While Martin's lines feel airy, Kelly's squares have a certain weight. It’s a dance between precision and chance, reminding us that even the simplest forms can hold a world of complexity.