Skt. Adolf,=Ringen=Hall 1922

Adolf Wölfli made this drawing, Skt. Adolf,=Ringen=Hall, with colored pencil, and it’s just vibrating with energy. I can imagine him layering those lines, building up the forms through repetition. Looking at the radiating ovals, it's like gazing into a kaleidoscope. Each shape is meticulously filled with tiny figures and patterns. I can see how the orange and green rings push against the cooler blues and yellows, creating this almost dizzying effect. What was Wölfli thinking as he drew those rows of faces? Maybe he was building a world, populating it with characters from his imagination. It reminds me a bit of Hilma af Klint’s diagrams, this need to map out an inner vision. It speaks to something fundamental about art-making, this urge to create order out of chaos, to find a structure for thoughts and feelings. It’s like they are all in dialogue with one another across time, each adding their own unique voice to the chorus.