Silence at Sharpeville 1962

Jimmy Ernst made this painting, Silence at Sharpeville, with all these lines and these blocks of colour, like a conversation between order and chaos, control and letting go. I think about the surface, how it feels almost woven, built up from a million tiny decisions. There's something about that red, sitting at the top of the picture like a sun or a wound, that pulls me in. All those nervous, scribbled lines feel like he’s trying to find something, some kind of truth or maybe just a way to make sense of it all. I mean, what is it to be silent, and what does it mean to witness something so painful? Ernst reminds me of Paul Klee, always searching, always trying to capture something fleeting and complex. It’s like he's inviting us to look closer, to feel the tension, and to find our own way through the silence.