Simultaneous Counter Composition 1929

Theo van Doesburg made this geometric composition with oil on canvas, using a pared-down palette of red, green, gray, black and white. I like to imagine him at work: taping off sections, maybe, and slowly building up the forms with flat, even layers of paint. I wonder what he was thinking about when he painted this? There is a tension here between the horizontal and vertical lines, and then those dynamic diagonals cutting through! It almost feels like the painting is pushing against its own boundaries. Maybe he was thinking about Mondrian and how his work was a little too stiff, a little too...square? Van Doesburg was part of the De Stijl movement, so this was an active conversation at the time between artists. It's an example of how artists respond to one another's ideas, remixing and pushing them further, which reminds me that creativity is not a solo act. We all are in conversation with each other across time, inspiring new ways of seeing and thinking.