“Stop to see a creature of pure imagination, bursting with raw energy and color. This lithograph captures a spontaneous, almost primal force through its vibrant brushwork and fluid forms.”
A fantastical creature, part bird, part beast, emerges from a vibrant swirl of color in this lithograph. Its wide eye, rendered with a single, intense black pupil, seems to peer out from a chaotic yet energetic environment. The lines here are fluid and spontaneous, characteristic of the COBRA movement, which embraced expressive freedom and a raw, almost childlike aesthetic. The composition feels dynamic, as if the creature is caught mid-movement, its form dissolving into the surrounding brushstrokes. This piece, created in 1976, is from a series titled "Pour Jorn," a tribute to Alechinsky's friend and fellow COBRA founder, Asger Jorn, reflecting a shared spirit of improvisation and vibrant, often unsettling imagery.
- Artist
- Pierre Alechinsky
- Date
- 1976
- Medium
- Color lithograph on ivory wove paper
- Location
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 75 × 54 cm (29 9/16 × 21 5/16 in.)
What to Notice
Five details hide in plain sight. Here’s where to look.
The single, large black eye of the central creature.
The way the creature's form seems to blend into the background.
The energetic, almost frantic lines that define the shapes.
The interplay of warm yellows and reds against cooler blues and greens.
1 more detail is waiting.
See all 5 in Art Whisper →Pierre Alechinsky
1927 · FranceAlechinsky co-founded COBRA in 1949, then journeyed to Japan to film calligraphers — and never stopped mixing East and West on canvas.
Further Works by Alechinsky
More from CoBrA
More works to explore
Beyond Alechinsky and CoBrA: works from the same years.
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Four Mona Lisas
Andy Warhol · 1978 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Unfinished painting
Keith Haring · 1989
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Essai
Sam Francis · 1963 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Alka Seltzer
Roy Lichtenstein · 1966 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)
Félix González-Torres · 1991
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Captain Joseph Medill Patterson
Ivan Puni · 1962 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Corpse and Mirror II
Jasper Johns · 1974 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Untitled (Brown and Gray)
Mark Rothko · 1969 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Olive Picking
Reuven Rubin · 1967 · Rubin Museum
Same era · 1960s–1990s
By the Sea
Yosl Bergner · 1962 · Israel Museum
Same era · 1960s–1990s
A Face from Georgia
Ivan Albright · 1970 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1960s–1990s
Krach
Philip West · 1987 · Art Institute of Chicago