Colour solution c. 1920s

Editor: So, this is Theo van Doesburg's "Colour Solution," made sometime in the 1920s with acrylic paint. It definitely has a stark, almost unsettling vibe with those clashing blocks of color and sharp geometric shapes. What jumps out at you when you look at it? Curator: Ah, yes, Doesburg! It always feels like he’s trying to reconstruct reality from its very Lego bricks. What I love about "Colour Solution" is how it whispers – no, shouts! – of the De Stijl movement's quest for pure abstraction. See how the rigid verticals and horizontals box in the colours. Do you feel, as I do, the almost spiritual longing for harmony, ironically expressed through such calculated disarray? It’s like life…organised chaos. Editor: Definitely, I can see the order and the chaos. Is that supposed to be a room, though? Curator: Is it? Perhaps! It could be the blueprint of a mind as much as a room. The black floor anchors us, even as the colored panels seem to defy gravity, no? Maybe he's not showing us a space, but the bare bones of how we perceive space – or, more precisely, the absurd humor in even trying to truly define it. Editor: It's weird to think of abstraction having humor. Curator: Oh, darling, art without humor is just wallpaper. Doesn’t this almost feel like a stage set, devoid of actors, yet ripe with potential drama? The severe angles are saying, "something interesting could happen," whilst the bright colour yells, "be excited, dammit." Editor: I guess when you put it that way… I never really thought about the drama you can get from colors. Now I’m going to be staring at this all day. Curator: Good, then Doesburg has worked his mischievous magic.