Zátiší 1921

Josef Capek painted this still life with oil on canvas, and it feels like a meditation on domesticity and the everyday, with some Cubist-inspired facets. I love the color palette – those soft pinks and blues against the earthier browns create a really pleasing harmony. I can imagine Capek carefully mixing those colors, trying to get just the right tone to capture the essence of the objects he's depicting. The way he’s rendered that vase is interesting. It's not quite representational, but it's not totally abstract either. It’s like he’s trying to capture the idea of a vase, rather than the actual object itself. It reminds me a little of Braque. I think the act of painting for Capek was an investigation – a way of seeing, thinking, and feeling that expanded the possibilities of visual language. Artists are always borrowing, stealing, and riffing off each other's ideas, and I see this painting as part of that ongoing conversation. It invites us to slow down, look closely, and find new ways of seeing the world around us.