Abstraction Based on Flower Forms, III 1921

David Kakabadzé made this watercolor, Abstraction Based on Flower Forms, III, sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. The color palette here is quite simple, like something from a children’s book. Kakabadzé embraced the fluidity of watercolor, letting the pigments bleed and mingle, which adds a kind of dreamlike quality to the composition. There's a big purple form that’s sort of rectangular and a bit blobby, like a very abstracted flower. It's surrounded by a sea of teardrop shapes and soft cloudlike forms in blues, greens, and blacks. Each shape is distinct, yet they all seem to float together on the page, creating a sense of depth and movement. This piece reminds me a little of Hilma af Klint, with the way it blends abstraction and the natural world. But in Kakabadzé’s work, there’s also a certain playfulness and lightness that makes it unique. Ultimately, this is a piece that invites you to get lost in its forms and colors, and to find your own meaning within it.