Reconciliation Elegy 1977

Robert Motherwell made this painting, Reconciliation Elegy, with paint and paper. It’s got these big, kind of clumsy shapes floating in a sea of soft blues and greens. I imagine Motherwell moving things around, maybe cutting and pasting, trying this, then that. There’s some black rectangles grounding the colour. I'm wondering if he’s wrestling with forms here? Like, how do these shapes fit together, not just on the canvas, but in his mind, in his feelings? The orange and red feel urgent, like a shout, while the scribbled lines scratch across the surface, adding a layer of nervous energy. It makes me think of other painters like, say, Joan Mitchell, or even Cy Twombly. We're all talking to each other, across time, about how to make sense, or nonsense, out of the world. Painting isn't about answers, it's about the questions. It's about being okay with not knowing, with letting the painting guide you, and hopefully, the viewer too.