White Cross 1918

Janos Mattis-Teutsch made "White Cross" and, honestly, it feels like he dove headfirst into a box of crayons. Look at how he's layered the color, almost like he's thinking out loud with each stroke. There's a real push and pull between the blues and greens, yellows and oranges, and it feels like he's not just painting what he sees, but how he feels. The surface has this great chalky texture, so you can almost imagine running your fingers over it. I’m drawn to how that white cross sort of hovers in the center, like a beacon. All those swirling shapes and colors seem to be orbiting around it. It reminds me a little of Hilma af Klint, how she used abstraction to get at something deeper, something spiritual. It’s this idea that art is a process, a journey, not just a product.