Feuilles mortes 1972

This work, Feuilles mortes, was made by Alexander Calder in 1972, and looks to be gouache on paper. I love the directness of Calder's marks. It’s like he’s letting us in on the secret that art-making is really just a bunch of playful decisions. There's something so joyful in the way he uses color – those bright reds, blues, and yellows, popping against the pale ground. The shapes feel almost like they're dancing, don’t they? Check out the way those black lines squiggle and swirl around the colored shapes. They create movement, like the leaves are falling or floating in the breeze. It’s interesting how Calder balances the flatness of the shapes with the illusion of depth. It's like he's playing with our perception, making us question what we're seeing. This feels connected to the work of Joan Miro, who also had such a playful approach to abstraction and mark making. It reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation, with artists building on each other's ideas and pushing the boundaries of what's possible.