Untitled Compositions 1916

Lyubov Popova made this abstract painting with oils, though we don't know exactly when. It's a busy intersection of triangles, all bumping up against each other. Look at the surface; it's really built up. She’s used thick daubs of paint, so you get this clotted, textural feel, like you could almost peel it off the canvas. And those thin lines slicing across—they're like afterthoughts, or maybe a way to tie the whole thing together. I'm drawn to the pink triangle near the top, it looks like she has mixed a little bit of white into the rose to give it more depth. Popova reminds me a little of Hilma af Klint, both women fearlessly forging new visual languages at a time when representation was king. It's like they were both tapping into something bigger, a hidden geometry of the universe.