Beside the Sea No. 18 1962

Robert Motherwell made *Beside the Sea No. 18* with paint, and a lot of feeling. You can see the action of the brush, the splatters and drips frozen in time, like the waves he was thinking about. I can feel how Motherwell must have loaded his brush with that luscious blue paint, slinging it across the canvas, trying to capture something wild and elemental. The paint is thin in places, almost translucent, and thick in others, catching the light and creating a real sense of depth. Look at the way that one gesture swoops down and then splatters – it’s like he’s trying to catch a feeling on the wing. Motherwell was part of a generation that was trying to make paintings that were direct expressions of inner states, like Pollock and Rothko. They’re all in conversation, even if they’re using different languages. Ultimately, this painting is a record of a moment, an idea, or maybe just a feeling, captured in paint. A question instead of an answer.