Figure Composition

Striking in both composition and color, ‘Figure Composition’ (2026) exemplifies George Condo’s career-long exploration of portraiture. Executed in a fluid blend of pastel and acrylic on paper, the work breaks down the hierarchical barrier between painting and drawing. A double-sided figure, constructed from intersecting planes and saturated hues, merges figuration and abstraction in what Condo calls ‘Psychological Cubism.’ These contrasting elements coalesce to reveal the fractured, multi-layered interior worlds of Condo’s characters—a testament to his extraordinary imagination and sustained investigation into the contradictions of the human psyche.

‘Picasso painted a violin from four different perspectives at one moment. I do the same with psychological states. Four of them can occur simultaneously… hysteria, joy, sadness and desperation. If you could see these things at once that would be like what I am trying to make you see in my art.’