The Mother 1961

Louay Kayyali’s *The Mother* is a painting made with, it seems, infinite patience, a real tenderness in the way the colours are laid down and built up. The surface has a dry, textured quality, and you can feel the physicality of the medium. Look at how the reds and greens are mottled, almost pointillist. It gives everything this vibrating energy, like the air around the figures is alive. The application of paint is thin, but there’s this incredible density of marks. You can almost imagine Kayyali building this image layer by layer, stroke by stroke. Check out the background, for example. The blending of blues and greens creates depth but also feels somehow dreamlike. There's something of Gustav Klimt in Kayyali's approach, that same attention to pattern, texture, and the psychological weight of color. Both artists use these elements to create images that are both beautiful and deeply affecting.