Wednesday May 23, 1928 12:02 – Paris, France. So Piet is struggling to get his vision down. He’s been experimenting with grids and colors for some 10 years now, and he felt he had a handle on it. But suddenly strange things started happening.
I tried to listen and gave a sympathetic ear, but truth be told I was struggling to understand the issue. It was unusual to see a man generally composed and of a calm demeanor so agitated. He had already destroyed several works, so I tried to work with him and recreate the problem.
It seems for some strange reason his lines were shifting and curving in lyrical ways, but knowing that he loved music and dance, I thought perhaps the lines were just reflecting his emotions. It was worse than that however because the lines morphed into a representational image of a woman. I finally understood that it was his need for order, his perfectionism that was at the root of the problem. Was it someone he knew? I can’t say, and he refused to share. He didn’t care anyhow. He just wanted his grid back.
Regrettably we didn’t really resolve anything, but perhaps if he reaches out again I’ll find out how he recovered.
