Yellow Music 1984

Robert Motherwell made this collage painting, called Yellow Music, at some point in his studio, using paper and paint. The colours vibrate against each other, don’t they? It’s like, he's hitting certain notes with black, blue, and yellow. I like the way he’s pasted sheet music into the composition. The yellow paint loosely brushed on top almost blends the music into the background. It makes me think about how music can become a part of our environment, and how we can lose ourselves in it. And then there’s this fragment of torn paper with a dark blob, like a Rorschach test, sitting right on top of everything. The blue feels structural, anchoring the collage, a bit like the blue in a Matisse cut-out. It reminds me that art is an ongoing conversation. Motherwell was so good at taking what came before him and turning it into something new. He wasn't afraid to let his feelings show, letting us hear his own, unique, yellow music.