Composition 1931

Theo van Doesburg made this pastel composition in shades of blue, yellow, white, and red, surrounded by black. I am interested in the way the artist might have built this up. Look at how some of the pastel marks are soft and smudged, while others are sharp and defined. Can you see the layers and shifts? I wonder how the artist felt as he put down these colors, and made these shapes. He seems to be balancing improvisation and control, you know? Like he is working out the rhythm and flow of the image right there on the paper. It reminds me of other early modernists who were trying to find new ways of expressing themselves through abstraction. Like they were all in dialogue, pushing each other. To me, painting is always about having a conversation across time. Each artist leaves something for the next to respond to and build upon.