Moonlit Landscape 1958

Johannes Itten made this painting, Moonlit Landscape, with oil on canvas, and it's a trip. Look at how he’s laid down these blocks of color, not trying to trick us into seeing anything realistically, but getting us to feel the landscape. The texture's interesting, right? It’s like he’s not trying to hide the process. You can see the brushstrokes, the way he’s layered the paint to build up these vibrant hues. The dark blues and purples give it that night feel, but then he throws in these pops of red and green that vibrate off each other. Like in the middle, that red rectangle, it just sits there, bold as you like, holding the whole thing together. Itten was doing his own thing, exploring color and form in a way that feels related to someone like Paul Klee, playing with how we see and feel the world. It’s not about copying reality, but making something new, something that hums with its own weird, beautiful energy.