Untitled 1982

Maurice Esteve made this ‘Untitled’ painting with watercolor on paper in 1982. Look at the way he’s built up these blocks and ribbons of color; it’s all about process, the happy accidents, and the way the paint bleeds and mingles. The colors here are amazing: warm reds and oranges mixing with cool blues and purples. You can almost feel the wetness of the paint, the way it soaks into the paper. See that patch of purple near the bottom? It’s like a little jewel, a concentrated dose of color that anchors the whole composition. And those yellows – they're so bright, they practically glow! Esteve reminds me a bit of the earlier work of Sonia Delaunay, with that same interest in color and form. But where Delaunay’s work feels precise and geometric, Esteve’s is more loose and intuitive, and that's what's exciting about art, right? It’s not about finding one right answer but about embracing the beauty of uncertainty.