Light Center 1961

Agnes Pelton made this painting, Light Center, with oil paint on canvas. The way the colors seem to glow from within makes me think about the magic of painting as a process, like alchemy. Pelton's light isn't a harsh spotlight, but a gentle emanation. The color is thin, almost transparent in places, allowing the light to breathe. The central oval, framed by delicate, looping lines, feels like a vessel or an egg, waiting to hatch. Imagine the brushstrokes themselves as whispers, each layer adding to the quiet intensity. The painting reminds me a bit of Hilma af Klint, another artist who channeled the unseen through abstraction, but Pelton's work has its own serene, otherworldly quality. In the end, art offers a space to ponder the mystical, the unknown, and the infinite possibilities of light and color.