Native Couple 1939

Carlos Merida painted 'Native Couple' using watercolor and ink, and I can only imagine him thinking through the shapes of these figures. The light parchment colour of the surface makes it seem like they’re walking out of the paper. Merida's simple yet defined lines create a rhythm and a sense of balance. The red bands around their heads are echoed in the man's bow, pulling our eye across the image. He was part of the Parisian avant-garde in the early 20th century, and he clearly was inspired by the modernist interest in folk art. For me, painting is all about the conversation with what’s come before. I bet Merida was looking at Matisse’s simplified forms as well as traditional Mayan art when he made this. It reminds us that artists are always in dialogue with each other, transforming old ideas into something new.