Drei Gruppen mit grnem Zentrum 1952

Richard Paul Lohse made this colour block painting, Drei Gruppen mit grnem Zentrum, and you can imagine him, brush in hand, deciding where to place each block. What was he thinking as he laid down those bands of lilac, green and yellow? It’s got that kind of clean, Swiss vibe. It’s not about the brush stroke, more about a perfect application. I imagine him being very precise with masking tape; colour next to colour, singing. The surface is smooth, almost manufactured. You can see, here, Lohse’s really thinking about Josef Albers and his colour theories, maybe even Mondrian. The centre almost vibrates, as the colours push and pull. Painting can do that, make colours glow. It makes you think and feel at the same time. All these artists are in conversation, responding to each other across time, like a thread connecting all these wild imaginings.