Untitled #2 (Sausalito) 1949

Richard Diebenkorn made this painting, Untitled #2 (Sausalito), with oil on canvas. Look at the way he laid down the paint; it’s like a conversation, where each mark responds to the one before. There's a real physicality to the paint here. It's not about hiding the process. You can see the brushstrokes, the layers building up. Notice how the red seems to sit on the surface, almost vibrating, while the cooler tones recede. And then there are these quirky circular shapes, like suns or moons, each with its own personality. I’m drawn to the lower-left corner, where the green meets the red. It's not a smooth transition, but a kind of collision. That tension, that push and pull, is what makes the whole thing so alive. It makes me think of Guston’s later works, that same willingness to embrace awkwardness, to let the painting be what it wants to be.