Blue & Green & Something in Between

TITLE: Blue & Green & Something in Between
DATE: March 2012
PRICE: € 2,171,831
PREFERRED BUYER: Museum of Modern Art, Brussels, Belgium
CONDITIONS OF SALE: This painting must be on permanent display and free of charge until the end of war in Afghanistan.
TECHNIQUE: Oil on canvas, unframed.
DIMENSIONS: 60 x 50 cm
STORY: The painting refers to an old wisdom about colour arrangement, especially in landscape painting: "blue and green need something in between". This is also very true of the big emperies, which often create artificial countries as buffer zones between them (Belgium, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, etc.). The black border that divides green from blue in the bottom part, and the American flag from the Russian flag in the top part, is actually full of red pigment. However, this red pigment is simply absorbed and practically invisible, just as is the blood of many innocent people that die in these political zones. Afghanistan, for example, was created in the late 19th century, as a buffer state between the expanding British and Russian empires. This country has been in some state of war almost continuously since 1979, with millions of its people dying. Without its title and explanation, this canvas would have been just another abstract painting, composed of 14 rectangles with the use of tree colours (plus black and white). It is probably one of the best examples of the AbFab style. Belgium was chosen as a preferred buyer, because this country made good use of its misfortunes in creating the Benelux with its neighbours, which eventually became an inspiration for the European Union.