Children going fishing 1930

'Children Going Fishing' is a painting by Tadeusz Makowski, who died in 1932. It depicts a cluster of figures in the process of becoming children - or perhaps turning into something else entirely. The ochre palette gives the painting a sense of warmth, but there's also a disturbing flatness to it. The surface is built up of hundreds of tiny marks, like mosaic pieces. Zoom in close and you'll see each one is different, a little world in itself, yet together they form this strangely cohesive image. It's as if Makowski is showing us how art itself is a process of building, layering, and connecting. Look at the face of the central figure. The left side is a rosy pink, while the right side is pale and ghostly. This division adds to the ambiguity, questioning the nature of identity and perception. It reminds me a little of Paul Klee's pedagogical sketchbook, in the way it uses simple forms to explore complex ideas. Ultimately, this painting isn't about fishing at all, but more about the magic and mystery of transformation.