This in another deceptively simple painting, which evokes the relationship between geese and nature in a few brush strokes. The background of is blank and bare, referring to the concept of nothingness, and the two geese are sketched in relation to a few lines which represent reeds. The work suggests a sense of great depth and space as well as the mystery of nature.

Robert Motherwell

Figure 1. Elegy to the Spanish Republic #58, 1957-61

(Source: http://www.learn.columbia.edu/dbcourses/item.cgi?template=submagnify&id=13428&table=items

The works of Robert Motherwell are similar to Zen paintings in that they also often achieve a sense of the immediate and unmitigated sense of reality that we associate with Satori or enlightenment. In the first instance there is a critical similarity in artistic approaches and technique. Motherwell used spontaneous drawing methods in his works that are similar to traditional Zen styles of art. As some critics note, there is an Eastern calligraphic...
[ View Full Essay]