Ballet 1952

Nicolas de Staël made this painting, Ballet, with oils on canvas. It's awash with a cool palette of whites and grays, punctuated by a horizontal strike of vibrant red. You can almost feel the weight of each block of paint he applied. I wonder what it was like for de Staël, wrestling with this canvas, trying to pin down that elusive feeling. The paint is laid on thick, you can see it. It gives a real sense of physicality and presence. Look at the way he's built up the surface, like an almost sculptural relief. That red line is like a jolt, right? It pulls the whole composition together, giving it this real sense of grounding. De Staël was so good at making something solid out of thin air. It's as if he's saying, "Here's a world, made of paint, made of feeling." It’s like he’s chatting with the ghosts of painters past, all while carving out his own space.