The Tree 1964

Agnes Martin made "The Tree" with paint, exploring ideas of stillness through subtle line. The canvas is large, almost square, pulling you in. Look closely, and you'll see faint horizontal lines, like a muted musical staff, stretching across the surface. Above and below these lines are pale bands of colour, like a very light grey, like a mist. It's all so delicate, so quiet. You can almost feel the hand of the artist, the careful, repetitive motion of the brush, but she's also trying to erase that. In the lower half of the painting, notice how some of the pencil lines seem to break and stutter and how the space between the bands seems to widen. It's almost like a breath, a small disruption in the otherwise calm rhythm of the piece. Martin reminds me a little of Hilma af Klint, but without the cosmic diagrams. Both artists were interested in something beyond the visible, but Martin found it in the subtle shifts of color and line. It's a reminder that art doesn't always have to shout, sometimes the most profound experiences are the quietest.