David 1948

Alfred Manessier made this painting titled ‘David’ with dynamic marks and a blazing colour palette. I can imagine Manessier, working intuitively, adding shapes and colours, shifting forms around, letting the painting emerge from the canvas. The dominant reds and oranges are punctuated by strokes of cool blues, creating a vibrant tension. There's a real push and pull here - an exchange between warm and cool colours. I sympathise with him as a fellow painter; in his shoes, the touch of the brush to the canvas is like a conversation, a call and response between intention and accident. The painting's surface isn't just a flat plane, but a record of movement, a choreography of colour and form. When I look at Manessier's work, I feel part of a larger artistic dialogue. Each painting adds to a conversation across time, inspiring new ways of seeing. Painting is a form of expression that celebrates ambiguity, inviting multiple readings, refusing any one, fixed meaning.