Arctic Icebergs 1973

Alexander Calder made this painting of Arctic Icebergs, sometime in his lifetime, with what looks like gouache on paper. There’s a graphic, almost childlike quality to it, the bright red sun and the even brighter yellow sky make you forget this is supposed to be the Arctic! He’s embraced the process, the stripes of blue are uneven and wobbly, you can feel the hand of the artist. I love the way Calder has rendered the icebergs, he’s really gone for it with the greys, which feel almost wet, dripping down the white, like melting snow. It feels immediate, as if he’s capturing a fleeting moment in time. Look at that single brush stroke that defines the horizon line and the black outlines of the icebergs. They give a sense of scale and also flatten everything, it’s a kind of playful contradiction. The colours feel very Matisse, that sense of playfulness too. Art is really about embracing contradictions and Calder does this beautifully.