About this artwork

This drawing by Romare Bearden is evenly divided in eight segments by - alternately - green and yellow bars against a gray background. By adding colorful leaflike shapes, the green bars turn into stems and as a result there is suddenly a division into four segments by the yellow bars. The leaves of the first and third stem are pink and purple, the ones from the second and fourth are blue and red. This repetition also occurs within the same “plant” by evenly alternating the colors of the leaves. What might appear playful at first glance, is a well-thought-out pattern.