Composition 1963

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this ‘Composition’ out of watercolor, and the way he puts it down is a bit like stained glass, all these transparent shapes bumping up against each other. It’s like he’s feeling his way through the painting, one color at a time. I like how you can really see the process here. The colors are delicate, kind of watery, but they build up to make these solid-feeling forms. It's all about layering and letting the colors mix and mingle. Take that green shape right in the middle – how it plays off the orange and purple around it, it’s like a little conversation happening right there on the page. It reminds me of Paul Klee, actually, with its playful abstraction and that sense of discovery. Both artists see art as this open-ended exploration, where you're not quite sure where you're going, but you trust the process and let the painting lead the way. And that’s what makes it so exciting.