Composition, Green 1950

Simon Hantaï made this piece, “Composition, Green,” sometime in his early career. Hantaï, a Hungarian artist who later lived in France, served in the Second World War, an experience which shaped his artistic perspective and commitment to abstraction. “Composition, Green” presents us with a visual paradox of form and formlessness. We see hazy blotches of green against a neutral background, juxtaposed with sharp black lines and splatters of white which challenges traditional notions of composition. Hantaï's abstract style moves away from prescribed ways of seeing, and might be seen to represent themes of identity, displacement, and the search for meaning in a world scarred by conflict. He once said: "I never start with a blank canvas… I start with a full one." This suggests Hantaï's need to engage with pre-existing ideas, to confront and rework them. "Composition, Green" reflects this process; it embodies the artist's internal dialogues as he responded to the tumultuous world around him.