Dancers 1957

Gino Severini made this painting, Dancers, with what looks like a pointillist technique, building up the image from tiny little dots. I can imagine him at the easel, patiently layering these small, vibrant touches of color. It's a pastel dreamscape of pinks, blues, and yellows, punctuated by sharp blacks that give it a modern edge. There’s a real sense of movement in this piece, so I guess those dancers are really grooving! I'm thinking about how other painters like Sonia Delaunay were also exploring movement and color at this time. They were all talking to each other through their paintings, trying to capture the speed and energy of modern life. What I like about Severini's approach is the way that he builds form from texture, in a very experimental way. It's not so much about what you see, but about the feeling of it all. It is a great embodied expression.