Portrait of Pegeen 1943

Richard Pousette-Dart created this painting, *Portrait of Pegeen*, with oil on canvas in a flurry of abstraction. It’s an image built up of intuitive marks and layered shapes, with an almost hallucinatory quality to its colors. I love the way the surface is worked, it’s so physical. Thick paint, thin paint, lots of variety in texture, and the way he’s got this push-and-pull between transparency and opacity. Look at the squiggly yellow line on the right side. It’s so distinct against the blue, a real standout. Then there are those teardrop shapes, repeated, echoing throughout the composition. It’s like he’s inviting you into a secret language of forms, a personal code that's somehow also universal. Pousette-Dart reminds me of Forrest Bess, in that both artists were on their own wavelength, making art that felt deeply connected to something beyond the everyday. And just like with Bess, I think the true value of Pousette-Dart's work lies in the space it opens up for us to see, think, and feel differently.