Untitled 1945

Barnett Newman made this untitled artwork with paint on paper, and it looks like he had a lot on his mind. I’m really drawn to the colors here - this muted yellow, grey and green, not quite earthy and not quite modern. It's got these vertical bands of color with wispy marks and symbols, almost like a personal language he's scrawling across the surface. I can imagine Newman, wrestling with something, maybe a thought or feeling he couldn't quite pin down. The paint looks really thin, like watercolor. It reminds me how painting isn’t just about making a picture, but a kind of conversation you have with yourself, and with all the artists who came before you. It's like Newman is here, talking to us now, through his gestures. And it kind of makes me feel like going back into the studio, now.