Abstract Head,Pink-Light Blue 1929

Alexej von Jawlensky mixed oil paint to make this 'Abstract Head, Pink-Light Blue.' Look at that light blue rectangle. I wonder if he started there, building the rest of the image around it, deciding what would lean on it and what would push away. I can see him, squinting, stepping back, maybe chain-smoking, trying to find the right pressure point. The black lines offer themselves as bold gestures, like a Matisse drawing, but then they're contradicted by the delicate pink and yellow glow of the face. The little blue and orange dots add rhythm and balance. I wonder if those are eyes. It’s easy to see how later artists like Elizabeth Murray were inspired by these kinds of colour combinations and hard-edged abstraction. Painting is a relay race across time, each runner picks up the baton and sprints ahead.