For Pearl 1970

Brice Marden made this painting, For Pearl, with oil and wax on canvas. Look at these colours, laid down in these blocks. Don’t they seem simple at first? But the surfaces are alive. Up close you can see how the paint has been built up, layer by layer, and the wax gives it this soft, almost translucent quality. I love the way the grey panel holds its own. It's so easy for grey to disappear, but here it feels solid, anchoring the warmer hues. Then there's that middle panel – a reddish-orange, earthy, and full of subtle shifts. The right-hand panel is a yellow, and it’s like seeing sunlight through a filter. Marden’s work has always been about this sort of quiet exploration, a sort of pared-down conversation with painting, a bit like Agnes Martin, but moodier.