Le droit d’aigle 1950

Asger Jorn made "Le droit d’aigle" with oil paint, and the way he goes at it, you know he's got something to say! There’s a dark, brooding energy, like he’s wrestling with some inner demons, building this crazy totem of animalistic faces. Jorn lays down the black paint thick, scraping it, smearing it, almost like he’s carving into the canvas. Then BAM, these jolts of red and yellow pop out, like screams in the night. He must have felt possessed when he made this. I love the toothy grin, bottom right—or is it a grimace? Either way, the animal forms are pretty raw and unresolved. It reminds me of other artists, like Appel and the Cobra group, who were all about that primal urge, smashing together figuration and abstraction in a wild frenzy. It's like they're saying, "Hey, let's tap into something deeper, something messy and real." And Jorn definitely hits that nerve. You can't help but wonder what he was chasing, or what was chasing him.