Tableau Relief P. 517 1968

Gottfried Honegger made this painting called Tableau Relief, and its sharp, geometric lines really get me thinking. I imagine him, maybe years ago, carefully laying down these intensely blue planes, building up a surface that’s both flat and, as the title says, a relief. I see a kind of quiet, meditative process—each brushstroke precise, considered, like a dance between intention and material. The cobalt is rich, almost velvety, and it contrasts so crisply with the white space. I wonder what he was after with that contrast? Artists, we’re all in conversation with each other, right? Honegger's painting here is a kind of answer to other artists and their questions, and at the same time asks some questions of its own. For me, it brings up thoughts about constructivism, minimalism, and maybe even a bit of early abstraction. It's like he's distilled painting down to its purest forms. And in that simplicity, it becomes open, full of possibilities.