Untitled (Fang, Crow and Fruit) 1945

Beauford Delaney made this painting, Untitled (Fang, Crow and Fruit), with oil on canvas. The colors feel close, like an intimate space, a bit claustrophobic, but full of energy. I imagine Delaney, brush in hand, circling the canvas, building up layers, the oranges and yellows battling for dominance. The fruit, so lemony and luscious, sits in a bowl like an offering. Is the crow swooping in to steal a bite? Or is it a symbol, a messenger? Then there's the figure on the right, rendered with such bold strokes, they seem carved from the very earth. I feel he might have been channeling ancestral spirits while he was making this. Delaney’s art feels like a conversation with painters like Van Gogh, with both using brushstrokes not just to describe, but to feel. To me, this work is so moving – a reminder of the power of paint to capture not just what we see, but what we sense, what we dream, what we remember.