Follow the Flow 1960

Alexander Calder, or 'Sandy' as he was known, made this colourful watercolour called 'Follow the Flow' at some point in his life, we don't know when. The red washes and simple shapes feel casual, as if he was just messing around, but there is a strong sense of overall composition here, and the marks sing. The colours are laid down in flat planes, and the black lines sit on top. Look at the way that those lines curve around and over the yellow and red shapes, which gives them a kind of lift or movement. You can almost feel the hand move to create that juicy squiggly line. It's thin and thick, like a heartbeat, and it seems to be looking for something. The title of the piece seems to hint at the feeling that art making is a process, a verb, a pursuit. There’s a childlike freedom to this work that reminds me of Miro, another master of joyful composition. It shows how even the simplest forms can express complex feelings.