Bluxao V 1955

Willi Baumeister made this lovely abstract painting, Bluxao V, using oil paint. Imagine the artist, brush in hand, dancing across the canvas. The bold, graphic marks and vibrant colors – that juicy red, the sunny yellow, and a deep, enveloping blue – it's all so immediate and playful. I think he's probably trying out different shapes, seeing how they bounce off each other, creating a sort of visual rhythm. There’s this large, almost comical, black spiral dominating the composition, and I wonder if Baumeister was thinking about the push and pull between order and chaos. It reminds me of Kandinsky's abstractions, but with a more grounded, earthy feel. You get the sense that these guys are all in conversation, borrowing and riffing off each other's ideas. And for me, that’s what painting is all about: an ongoing, joyful experiment with form, color, and feeling.