Hallelujah

The present monumental lot, for which Castel was awarded the Malach Prize in 1958, belongs to the New Horizons period of Castel's oeuvre. Castel's work executed after 1948 consists mainly of abstract paintings, some relate to Hebrew letters of ancient times. This interest develops further in his later well-known basalt works. Some of the paintings of the period relate to musical passages, as the present lot.
Castel stated in relation to this painting: "The way of painting I have attained brings me near to the traditional spirit of the Ancient Hebrews which found its expression in the abstract. It is my endeavour to get to a new order of pictorial ideas, expressing deep sentiment through the expansion of the rhythm of forms and colours free from servitude to realism".