Autumn Gold 1957

Hans Hofmann made this painting, Autumn Gold, with oil on canvas. It's like he’s wrestling with the paint, pushing and pulling it, shifting it around, until it finds its place. You can imagine him thinking: Where does this colour want to go? What does this dab of paint need to be? I can feel the history of painting in this work, how all painters are connected. Like, maybe he was thinking about Matisse's colour, or Cezanne’s blocky shapes, or maybe even the German Expressionists’ raw emotion? There’s an energy in those marks, a kind of urgency, a need to get something out, to express something that can't be put into words. It’s exciting to see those little squares of colour pushing against each other, making the whole thing vibrate. Hofmann reminds us that painting isn't just about making a pretty picture; it's about thinking, feeling, and seeing the world in a new way.