Composition 11 1930

Sonia Delaunay made Composition 11 with what looks like gouache or tempera, those matte colours, and a real sense of play. You can see the hand so clearly in the zigzags at the top of the picture, and in the confident strokes of the colored bars that fan out across the surface. Everything feels immediate. I love the way the stripes tilt and push each other – the kind of awkward harmony that happens when colors and shapes throw themselves together. It’s like a party, but the guests are lines and colours, bumping and grinding. There’s no hiding the process here, no effort to smooth things out or make it look perfect. It’s this honesty that makes the work so alive. Delaunay reminds me a little of Hilma af Klint, actually; two artists who were exploring a kind of non-objective space with a very personal touch. Ultimately, art is not about answers, but about keeping the conversation going.