Variation 8 1938

Max Bill made Variation 8, a geometric composition of circles, in 1938. It’s a trip, like looking into an infinite tunnel of colored light. I can only imagine Bill in his studio, meticulously planning each circle, each color, and how they would interact. The outermost ring is a soft lavender, giving way to orange, then blue, green, red, and finally that glowing yellow center. It's like he's captured a sunrise, but made it totally abstract and timeless. These hard-edged forms can trick you – they feel so simple, but there’s a real optical vibration happening. It’s as if Bill is talking to us about how we perceive space and form. His paintings are like puzzles that invite us to contemplate the underlying order of the universe. And that’s why, even after all this time, they still feel so fresh.