Vrouw met koe (Woman with Cow) 1918

Bart van der Leck’s “Vrouw met koe” or “Woman with Cow” is a painting made with what looks like watercolour or gouache, and maybe some kind of crayon or pastel. What strikes me most is the interplay of geometric shapes in a limited palette, creating a dance between representation and abstraction. The colors are laid down in flat planes of blue, yellow, red, and black. These are the building blocks he uses to suggest a cow and a woman. The textures are smooth, with a slight chalkiness, but you can see the subtle variations in tone and saturation across the piece. The artist used a dry brush technique to create a sense of depth. The red rectangle on the right could be a figure, or a pillar, but ultimately it is just a red rectangle. This is pure visual thinking, where art is a conversation, as much about what's there as what isn't. Like Mondrian, Van der Leck pushes us to see the world in a new way.