Still Life with statue, vase and jar 1920

Theo van Doesburg created this painting, *Still Life with statue, vase and jar*, using oil on paper. I can imagine him building up these layers—the dark ground, followed by vertical marks that delineate the statue—almost like a blurry photograph slowly coming into focus. He probably kept shifting the objects around or turning the canvas as he tried to work out how to bring the interior world into a coherent composition. The painting gives you the impression that you’re looking at a set of objects through a darkened pane of glass. See that creamy white brushstroke running down the center? It doesn't just define the statue, it almost feels like the painting is being held together, structurally. I wonder if he knew that painting was fundamentally about the act of 'holding together', and not just about the objects themselves. Artists are in a constant dialogue, grappling with the same questions over generations. Painting is an embodied language that allows artists to embrace uncertainty, inviting us to interpret and reinterpret endlessly.