Maiden Dance 1964

Hans Hofmann made "Maiden Dance" with paint, and I can almost feel the movement of his hand. It's like he's not just painting what he sees but also how he feels. There's a sense of playful experimentation with these blurry shapes and dripping marks, as if he’s pushing the boundaries of what paint can do. Hofmann was interested in color and space, the push and pull that happens on the canvas, and you can see that here. Those little dashes, like musical notes scattered across the surface. It's like he's composing a dance with color and line. What was he listening to as he painted? What kind of rhythm was in his head? Did he think of Kandinsky as he made this? Or Klee? Painting is a kind of exchange. It's about intuition, and feeling your way through. Each move builds on the last, changing everything, until finally, the dance is over.