Burghard Müller-Dannhausen

The simplification of the picture structure includes a preference for the base directions vertical and horizontal. It is logical to pull together the boundaries of color zones in relationship to the format borders. Herein lies the connection to the tradition of constructivist painting. However, it remains only an approximation, the almost vertical and almost horizontal parallels are avoided. Instability as a pictorial factor arises. The impulse to vertical and horizontal has other reasons. As an elementary direction, it represents dimension. It gives the color its size and weight. As a shape, in contrast, it recedes. This is different to the varying diagonals that are consciously avoided. These give the color more of a shape, accentuating therefore the shape character. The drama of diagonals should also be avoided. The picture’s drama occurs in the color. The adopted approach that is directed more inwards than forwards is continuously varied, so that the same patterns of surface arrangement do not reappear. Hence new picture solutions warily arise which yet have little consequence. The novelty always appears through the individuality of each picture and its color relationship.