Untitled 1931

Auguste Herbin made this untitled painting, and I can only imagine the amount of back and forth and looking that went into making it. Herbin’s shapes, rendered in such flat, bright colors, have a graphic quality, but the texture created by the brushstrokes is so important. Just look how the surface quality holds the light, adding depth and a sense of movement. These colors make a really bold statement. They're having a conversation with each other, right? Like, what if you took away that bit of green over there? The whole thing would fall apart. I find myself wondering if the shapes represent something from the real world? Or whether they came from the artist’s own world of pure abstraction? Whatever the answer, I feel as though I can see a history of painting in it – from Cubism to pure abstraction. And that's the great thing about painting, isn't it? Each artist builds on the work of those who came before, taking the conversation in new and unexpected directions.