The Beach 1955

William Baziotes made this painting, The Beach, with oil on canvas, and it lives here at the Whitney. Looking at this painting, what jumps out is the moody palette. There’s a sense of atmosphere, right? The paint is thinly applied, almost stained into the canvas. I can see these ghost-like shapes hovering in a kind of dream space. These shapes have hard edges, but the thin washes of color make the picture feel soft. It’s a balancing act. See how Baziotes lets the paint drip and pool? Those little accidents, those are the moments where the painting feels alive. It's like he's not trying to control everything, but letting the materials speak for themselves. In a way, Baziotes reminds me of Gorky, always searching for those biomorphic forms, those shapes that feel both familiar and totally alien. It's a reminder that art is a conversation, a back-and-forth between intention and accident, control and letting go.