Blue-02 1916

Here's a little painting, Blue-02, made with watercolor on paper by Georgia O'Keefe, which now hangs in the Brooklyn Museum. Can you imagine the light touch, the soft brush loaded with watery pigment, making those blooming blue shapes? I wonder what O’Keeffe was thinking as she made this. I love the way the blues pool and swirl into each other, almost like a little weather system, or a faraway planet seen through a telescope. The brushstrokes are confident, yet delicate, and the composition is simple, but evocative. Those bold diagonal strokes at the bottom are like rays of light, or shadows being cast. I feel as though she's letting loose, like she doesn't care so much about precision but more about emotion. This piece reminds me of others that explore the world in such a personal, embodied way, like Agnes Martin and Hilma af Klint. Each of them uses abstraction to capture something essential about life, something you can't quite put into words, but can certainly feel. The ongoing conversation between them helps us all see the world a little differently.