Untitled 1947

Beauford Delaney made this unnamed painting with oil paint, and you can almost see him dancing with the canvas. There is a thick impasto, and you can feel his hand in the swirls and strokes. I wonder what it was like to be Beauford, mixing these colors, blobs of yellow, red, purple, and blue. The white dove is swooping and the heart floats on the left, somehow it all feels like a feeling. He was chasing something, trying to catch it, not illustrate it. Looking at this painting, I’m thinking about the process of discovery, not only for Beauford but for all of us. It's like he’s transmitting a secret message through his brush. Painting is always a conversation, an exchange of ideas across time.