Toward the Planets 1968

Alexander Calder made this gouache, Toward the Planets, in 1968, and right away I'm drawn into its playful simplicity. You see this layering in the sun, with its red center and radiating yellow, created with these deliberate, almost childlike strokes. It’s a process, right? Each layer adds depth and vibration. I find myself staring at the materiality of the paint itself. Calder's application is so direct, almost casual, yet each mark feels deliberate. Look at the black ovals, like floating rocks in space, they seem solid, anchored, each slightly irregular, and the blue planet, a swirling cosmos in miniature. The way the colors interact, the stark contrast of the black and the soft, diffused edges of the sun, it's like a visual poem. Calder's work, even in its most abstract form, always feels grounded in a sense of wonder, like a child’s vision of the universe. It reminds me of Miró's whimsical constellations, but with a uniquely Calder twist. Art, after all, is just a continuous conversation across time.