A World in Itself 1961

Alfred Jensen made this painting, A World in Itself, using oil paint. It's full of pluses and minuses, arrows, and letters floating around in a sea of red, white, blue, and black. You can almost feel him puzzling over it, shifting things around. I imagine him stepping back, squinting, then diving back in with another little nudge of color or a symbol, trying to crack some kind of code. The paint looks applied methodically; it’s not thick and gloppy but precise, like he’s building a diagram. Look at the way the arrows point in different directions – they're not just marks on a surface; they're hints at movement, connections, maybe even a kind of energy. It reminds me of other artists who were similarly trying to depict the invisible, like Hilma af Klint, who sought to visualize spiritual forces. Artists borrow from each other, building on ideas, remixing them, pushing them further. Ultimately, painting is always an experiment, a way of thinking out loud with colors and shapes. It's a beautiful, messy, and uncertain process!