Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110 1971

Robert Motherwell made this painting – Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110 – with oil on canvas, and you can almost feel him working through something, right? The stark contrast of black against white, or maybe it’s off-white, creates a really powerful tension. Look at the way the black shapes press against the edges, they feel both solid and kind of vulnerable, you know? And the creamy ground showing through, here and there, almost like a ghost. There’s a real physicality to the paint; it’s not trying to hide anything. Like, in the top right corner, those drips feel so raw, so immediate, I can almost hear the brush scraping across the canvas. Motherwell's been linked to Goya, and I see it. Both artists grappling with heavy stuff through bold gestures. This one feels open-ended. A painting that embraces the unresolved.