Engel auf rotem Fond 1925

Adolf Hölzel made this artwork, "Engel auf rotem Fond" – Angel on a Red Background – with what looks like oil pastels, where the process of making is right there on the surface. The texture, the strokes – it’s all part of the meaning. I love how the red ground pulses with energy, almost vibrating against the blues and yellows. The angel itself, more a suggestion than a depiction, emerges from this chaos of color. Look at that turquoise figure in the middle – is it rising or falling? The beauty of the piece comes through the ambiguity. The layering of colors, the way they bleed into each other, reminds me of Kandinsky’s early experiments with abstraction. There’s a similar desire to express spiritual content through purely visual means. Ultimately, Hölzel seems to suggest that art can be more about questions than answers, inviting us to find our own angels in the chaos.