Le feu 1953

Pierre Alechinsky made this painting, titled 'Le feu,' with oil on canvas, and the title itself really sets the tone, doesn't it? Just look at the palette! The orangey reds and yellows are like a visual representation of heat. The painting seems to have been made in a flurry, a passionate frenzy of marks. It is a dense field of brushstrokes, each applied with a distinct sense of urgency. The paint is relatively thick and opaque, layering on top of itself to build up a textured surface. The individual marks are quite gestural and the shapes they make are strange, hovering between figuration and abstraction. These aren’t forms that are easily definable, more like flickering suggestions. It brings to mind other artists interested in automatism and spontaneous gesture, like Joan Miró. There’s a sense of play, of surrendering to the unconscious. Maybe he started with an idea, maybe he didn’t, but either way, the painting seems to be evolving as he worked, a dance between intention and accident.