Soft Night 1947

Arshile Gorky created this canvas called Soft Night, though we aren't sure exactly when, using oils. Gorky wasn’t afraid to leave a mark, was he? There's an almost ghostly quality, like memories half-formed, half-forgotten. The palette here is so restrained, mostly grays and blues, but it’s how he layers them, how they bleed into each other, that gets me. Look at that patch of red, though, just a tiny fleck amidst all that cool, a visual hiccup that wakes you up. The paint isn’t overworked, it's thin in places, almost like a watercolor, and then thick and luscious elsewhere. You can practically see the ghost of de Kooning here. But Gorky’s touch is lighter, more ethereal. I see art as an ongoing conversation, and Gorky was fluent in so many languages, wasn’t he?