Nächtlich 1948

Leo Leuppi made this painting called 'Nachtlich' with watercolor. It's full of washed hues and floating shapes. Looking at this, I think about the kind of mental space you need to be in to make something like this. It's kind of like the feeling of being in a dream state, where things aren't quite solid. See how the yellow circle at the top has this funny tension? It’s like a sun but also a strange mechanical eye. You can see how the blue and gray bars are intersecting, they feel like structures or the scaffolding of thought itself. Leuppi is part of a long line of painters exploring the interplay between the conscious and unconscious. I'm thinking of other artists like Hilma af Klint, who also use abstract forms to explore inner worlds. In the end, painting is about having a conversation, not just with yourself, but with all these other voices, reaching across time and space.