Composition 1931

Otto Freundlich made this geometrically inclined painting, "Composition," with oil on canvas. It looks like the painting started with individual marks, one after the other. It makes me think about the process of building, or maybe even knitting—a rhythmic, methodical kind of artmaking. I love the materiality here—the thickness of the paint, the way the colors sit next to each other. It's not trying to trick you into seeing something real. Look how the blues push against the oranges. There’s one tiny, bright orange rectangle, a lost block wedged right in the center near the bottom edge; it resonates through the whole picture. Thinking about Freundlich's practice, I am reminded of Hilma af Klint; they both build up from basic shapes and colors, like musical notes, finding harmony not in representation, but in the abstract relationships between things. It’s a reminder that art is, and always has been, a conversation across time.