Imperfect #2 (C.223) spread its elements across a warm yellow ground that dominated the surface in a way none of the other Imperfect prints had allowed — the triangles and planes floating within it rather than pressing against a dark or neutral field, the openness of the yellow giving the composition a lightness at odds with the angular collisions happening across it. Blue striped and dot-field triangles cut in from the upper edge, teal and green planes intersect in the centre, a vertical blue line drops through without anchoring anything, orange holds the right margin — each element following its own directional logic, none of them arriving at a shared conclusion.

Mondrian had used yellow sparingly and with great precision, the colour too dominant to be allowed much surface area without overwhelming the relationships he was building. Lichtenstein gave it the whole ground, which changed the terms entirely — the imperfect geometry was no longer pressing against a neutral field but floating within a colour that asserted itself independently of all the angular activity above it. The yellow didn't resolve the composition; it simply refused to recede, adding one more element that the system had to accommodate and couldn't quite manage.

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