Piano Keys Lake 1905

Frantisek Kupka, sometime in the early 20th century, created this dreamy painting. The dominant colours are dark blues and greens, with striking red accents that vibrate across the surface, like musical notes. I imagine Kupka standing before his easel, layering strokes of paint, and the image emerging little by little through intuition. The more I look, the more I see a world in motion, full of people in boats, and piano keys that almost look like water. There’s a tension in the painting between representation and abstraction, as Kupka was trying to find a language to express music with the means of painting. We can feel this in the brushstrokes. See how the strokes appear and disappear, some are thick and confident, others thin and more delicate. It reminds me of Kandinsky, or even Monet's Impressionism, but with Kupka's unique rhythm. Painting is like a conversation across time and I believe that Kupka was talking to painters before him, and painters after him continue to respond to his experiments today.