M 5 1954

Josef Albers made this painting, M 5, out of oil on masonite. You know, there’s something so clean and weirdly vulnerable about these lines suspended in dark space. It’s like he’s saying, "here’s the most basic form, let's just see how far we can push it." The simplicity feels almost radical, like he's stripping away everything unnecessary to get to the essence of seeing. Albers spent a lot of time thinking about how we perceive color and form, and this piece is like a visual experiment. I bet he sat there, brush in hand, trying to make the most of these lines and their relationship with this velvety black ground. I can see him trying to figure out just how to mess with your perception of depth and space. It’s almost like a dare, pushing painting to its most essential. He's in dialogue with other painters who are obsessed with form and structure, like Mondrian or even Sol LeWitt, but in his own very particular way.