Male Portrait c. 1905

Olga Boznanska made this portrait of a man using oil paint, and it feels like she’s feeling her way through the image. The way she builds up the paint is fascinating—transparent layers over opaque strokes. Look how the colors shift in his face and jacket, a kind of chromatic shimmer. Up close, you can see the individual marks, like the quick dabs of red in his lips or the scumbled blues that suggest a light behind him. Each mark feels considered, yet the overall effect is loose and dreamy. I find myself drawn to the way the black of the jacket melts into the background. It reminds me of Whistler’s tonalist paintings, where the subject and the atmosphere become one. Boznanska isn’t trying to give us a photographic likeness; she’s after something more elusive. For me, this painting is a reminder that art is less about capturing reality and more about capturing a feeling.