Wind 1950

Willi Baumeister made this painting called 'Wind', with what looks like watercolour, ink and gouache. The paint has been brushed, dripped, blotted and splattered, the whole surface of the paper is alive. Look at the lower left, there is one dark shape that suggests a tree, a cloud, or even a figure, but in the very same instance, it suggests none of those things too. It's a form in flux. See how the edges are blurred, almost like a Rorschach test, inviting us to project our own meanings onto it. The dynamism in this piece reminds me of the early works of Joan Mitchell; both artists used abstraction to capture the essence of nature, not through direct representation but through gesture and movement. It’s the ongoing conversation between artists across time that keeps the art world so interesting. We don't need to come to definitive answers.