Toilette 1918

Tadeusz Makowski made this oil painting, called Toilette, with soft, muted tones and gentle brushstrokes. I wonder what it was like for him, setting up the scene and observing the intimate moment between these two figures. The girl with the comb, focused and tender, and the girl who’s being groomed looking dreamily off to one side. The paint is applied in thin, almost translucent layers, which gives the painting a hazy, dreamlike quality. I’m drawn to the delicate blush on their cheeks, achieved with the subtlest touch of pink. It makes me think of the Old Masters, but with a modern twist. There’s a quiet stillness in this work, a sense of contemplation. It’s as if Makowski invites us to pause and appreciate the simple beauty of everyday life, the tender act of combing hair. It reminds us that artists are always looking, always learning from each other, across time and space.