Les Tropiques 1972

Alexander Calder made ‘Les Tropiques,’ sometime during his career, and it looks like he used gouache, maybe, or acrylic. It's all about the push and pull of simple shapes, the kind kids make when they are learning to draw. There's a playfulness in the colours: sunny yellows, vibrant reds, deep blues, all outlined with this confident black. Look at the big red shape on the left, like a geometric letter 'E,' but also sort of looks like it's trying to nudge that big yellow circle. Then you notice how the black outline is not just a boundary, but a way to hold all the parts together. It makes me think of Joan Miró, and his language of signs and symbols. This piece isn’t trying to trick you with fancy realism. It’s about basic forms and how they come together to make something lively and totally unique. It's like a reminder that art can be about fun, and that simple is good.