Les grands transparents 1958

Pierre Alechinsky made 'Les grands transparents', whereabouts and when is anyone’s guess! The way he’s layered the paint here, it's like he's digging into something, right? Almost archaeological. You know, as a painter myself, I’m always thinking about how a piece comes together, what happens between the first blob of paint and the last. Look at the way the blues and whites kind of wrestle with each other, thick in some spots, almost washed out in others. There's this one looping shape near the bottom, like a question mark or a bent pipe, that seems to hold everything else together. Maybe it’s a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation. It makes me think a little bit of Philip Guston, actually, in the way he wasn't afraid to get messy and leave the process visible. Ultimately, a painting like this reminds us that meaning isn't fixed. It’s something we bring to the work, a collaboration between the artist and the viewer.