Literature: Reflex no. 2, 1949. Orgaan van de experimentele group in Holland, ill. Provenance: Private collection, Denmark.

With almost diagnostic precision, Eugène Brands’ title and visual content provide a glimpse into the living, abstract universe that the CoBrA artists were trying to articulate in 1948. In the kaleidoscope, our normal perception of reality is distorted into magical reflections and interesting, new constellations that excite the viewer’s imagination. Brands is clearly looking into an exciting and unusual universe of dynamic shapes, colours and values, which are well on their way to becoming part of fruitful, new contexts.