Le Moulin 1912

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso's "Le Moulin" is, in my mind, a landscape created through the energy of marks. Look at how each shape is formed with strokes, each line carrying its own weight and direction. There is an exciting contrast between the dense, almost frantic mark-making of the windmill, and the smoother, flowing lines that describe the contours of the land, for example. It's almost like two different worlds colliding on the same surface. I notice how the repetitive marks create a sense of depth and texture, like you could run your fingers over the surface. Consider the mark making on the windmill, that dense cluster of lines – it pulses with dynamism and tension, a stark contrast with the more serene, rhythmic lines elsewhere in the composition. You could almost say that this one area anchors the whole piece, giving it a focal point around which the other elements orbit. Souza-Cardoso's spirit reminds me of Picabia’s playful approach to form. Both artists embrace ambiguity and multiple perspectives over fixed meanings.