Croce rossa e palle bianche 1921

László Moholy-Nagy made this piece, Croce rossa e palle bianche, with watercolor and pencil and it’s fascinating to imagine how the artwork came into being. I can see Moholy-Nagy tentatively sketching out geometric forms and lines, then he adds these blocks of color, almost like musical notations on a page. It makes me think of the Bauhaus, where he taught, and their experimentation with form and function. Imagine him standing at his desk, tweaking the composition, adding layers of transparency and depth with each careful stroke. I wonder if he was thinking about the intersection of art and technology, or the interplay between order and chaos. There is a real conversation happening between his choice of reds and the arrangement of geometric shapes. Like a little game with the eyes, the composition is dynamic and playful, as if the artist is encouraging us to question our assumptions and embrace new ways of seeing. Painters are always talking to each other, across time.