Shellflower 1947

Lee Krasner made “Shellflower” with paint on canvas. Imagine the act of its making, with colours shifting and emerging through intuition and error. Looking at this painting, I sympathize with Krasner, imagining what it might have been like to stand in front of this canvas. What might she have been thinking? The paint looks quite thin, each brushstroke deliberate, building up a complex and almost chaotic surface. But within this seeming chaos, there’s a strange harmony. See how the yellows, blues, reds, and whites dance together, creating a vibrant, pulsating energy? It makes me think about other painters and their relationship to nature; maybe Joan Mitchell, maybe even Monet. Artists engage in an ongoing dialogue, exchanging ideas across time and inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting becomes a form of expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings.