Instrument de la passion 1957

Jean Bertholle made this painting, Instrument de la passion, using oil paint, and you can tell it was a real process for him. There's something about the way he's layered the reds, olives and blacks, building up this angular, almost architectural space, that suggests he was figuring it out as he went along. I like the surface of this painting. It’s not trying to hide anything. You can see the way the paint has been applied, sometimes thick and opaque, other times thin. Take for example those thin blue lines, like exposed nerves over the chunky blocks of colour, dragging the eye to and fro. Then there's the way Bertholle creates depth with these overlapping forms, making you feel like you're looking into some kind of exploded diagram or stage set. Looking at this, I'm reminded of the work of Stuart Davis, another artist who embraced abstraction and the energy of modern life. But while Davis’s work has a jazzy, syncopated rhythm, Bertholle's painting feels more internal, more like a private meditation on form and feeling.