Glasfensterentwurf 1932

Adolf Hölzel conceived this stained-glass window design with pastels. I imagine him holding one stick and then another, building up the colours and the forms, maybe stepping back to see how it’s holding together, or not. It feels like a very intuitive process, almost improvisational. The colours are so lively, aren’t they? The red, yellow and blues feel like they’re buzzing with energy. I can almost feel the texture of the pastel on the paper. You know, that slightly chalky, soft feeling? It's not quite painting and not quite drawing, but something in-between. These dark outlines really make those colours pop. It reminds me of stained glass, or maybe even some of the early modernists like the Fauves. Hölzel is trying to find a new language for painting and pushing the boundaries of representation. It’s like he's saying, let’s see what happens if we break things down and build them up again in a new way. And that’s what excites me about painting, that freedom to experiment and discover.