Floral V 1960

Here is a painting by Morris Louis, called Floral V. It’s a big painting, made with acrylic on canvas. I can imagine him there, in his studio, staining the canvas with these transparent washes of colour, one after another. There is a deep pool of dark colour at the bottom and then these vertical rivulets of colour rising up. So delicate, like the most fragile, ephemeral flowers. I wonder if he was listening to music? What was he thinking about? This pouring technique reminds me a little of Helen Frankenthaler, only somehow more controlled and deliberate. Look how the paint pools and bleeds into the canvas, creating these soft-edged forms, kind of like Rothko, but without the angst. It feels intuitive, as if the painting grew organically, each layer responding to the one before. And that single thin dark line - what is that about? Painting is like an ongoing conversation between artists, each one riffing off the ideas and techniques of those who came before. We all learn from each other, experimenting and pushing the boundaries of what paint can do. It’s a beautiful thing, really.