The Stairs 1952

Charles Blackman made this painting, titled "The Stairs", using brushes and blue paint, and it feels like he was trying to puzzle something out. I can just imagine him, trying to catch the light and the quiet in the air. The way the figures are sort of floating, it’s like they’re in a dream, or a memory. Those blues! They get under your skin, don’t they? It’s not just about the color, but how he lays it down – thick in some places, thin in others. That little face in the foreground? So much said with so few lines. You feel the weight of looking. Painters like Blackman are always talking to each other, across time, through their work. Each one asking questions, trying to figure out how to make sense of the world. They leave us clues, but never the whole answer, because, well, there isn’t one.