Soleil rouge et figure noire 1963

Alexander Calder made "Soleil rouge et figure noire" with ink and gouache, and right away, I'm drawn into his playful approach. It feels like watching someone work things out, letting shapes and colors land where they may. The texture here is all about the simplicity of the materials. The gouache looks almost like a kid's paint, dragged across the surface to make a big sun. And the black ink? Bold outlines, filling shapes with flat darkness. Look at the smirking sun-face at the bottom – it’s like a quick doodle, confident and full of joy. The way the lines vary in thickness shows the speed of Calder’s hand, not trying to be perfect, just present. It reminds me of Miró, that playful sense of line, and how he wasn't afraid to let the materials speak for themselves. Calder invites us to see the world with a sense of wonder, embracing art as an ongoing experiment, full of possibilities, rather than fixed conclusions.