Abstract Composition 1955

Enrico Prampolini made this abstract painting with a palette of primary colors, plus black, white, and a sandy grey. I imagine him in his studio, wrestling with shapes, trying to find some kind of harmony out of the chaos. You can see that the paint has a sandy texture, it's thick and matte. The blue feels like it’s holding everything together, while the red shapes are more energetic and jump forward. That diagonal slash of white, for example, seems to slice through the composition, creating tension and movement. And the gray form behind it? Something about the way it looms feels uneasy, but intriguing. Prampolini was part of the Futurist movement, which was all about embracing technology and speed. I see the influence of those ideas in the painting. You can see how he is in conversation with other abstract painters, like Mondrian and Malevich. But in the end, his paintings are his own.