Composition 1929

Pavel Filonov made this painting titled "Composition" with oil on canvas at an unknown date. Filonov built his compositions from small strokes of color, like pixels that add up to this mosaic of tones. I can imagine him in the studio, patiently building up layers, and shifting his vision as the painting progressed. He must have had to surrender to the unexpected directions the painting took him. The palette feels somehow both icy and warm at the same time. The surface is densely packed with shapes, and the composition is a tapestry of many things, but when I look closer, I can’t really tell what they are… It’s this push and pull between abstraction and figuration that I like in the work. And ultimately, that’s what makes painting so great - we can see the world in new ways through each other’s eyes. We're all inspired by artists who came before us and riffing off each other's ideas.