The Ball Game 1958

Eugene Brands made this painting, The Ball Game, with expressive brushstrokes and bold colors. Look at how the paint is applied, thick and gestural, full of energy. I can imagine Brands in his studio, moving around the canvas, maybe on the floor, pushing and pulling the paint to build up this figure. The red face, yellow shirt, and that wheel of blue and red—it’s all so immediate and raw. Those lines, like a child’s drawing, give it such a sense of freedom and spontaneity. It almost feels like looking at something Miro or Asger Jorn might have conjured up. You know, those guys from Cobra whose paintings were all about instinct and liberation. The whole act of painting becomes a kind of performance, a dance between the artist, the canvas, and the materials. It’s like they’re having a conversation, each mark a response to the last, echoing through time and space.