Fugue 1920

Here's 'Fugue,' an oil on canvas by Georges Valmier. Looking at it, I see all these shapes floating around in a delicious color world. I wonder what Valmier was thinking as he made it. Was he aiming for a particular kind of harmony? Or did he just like pushing around these forms and hues, seeing what would happen? The surface is smooth, but it is so full of incident. The way he's laid down those purples and greens, the lines that appear and disappear. It's like he's improvising. Valmier's playing with space, pushing and pulling, creating a dynamic rhythm, just like a piece of music. And you know, that's what painting is all about – searching, questioning, and building on what's come before. Other painters like Picasso and Braque were doing similar things around the same time. They’re all in conversation with each other!