Paja Jovanović, Ženidba Cara Dušana, 1901 1904

Paja Jovanović made Ženidba Cara Dušana in 1901, conjuring a medieval wedding scene in oil on canvas. I'm thinking about how a painting like this comes together, layer after layer. It starts with a sketch maybe, and then the slow build-up of color and form. Jovanović would have stood back, squinted, and gone in again, until it all clicked. What a job! The whole composition has a muted palette. The figures and horses are finely rendered, and there is a softness to the scene, like a memory or a dream. I keep coming back to the faces of the crowd, and I like the way Jovanović has created them with such simplicity. He’s saying something about the collective, about how we all play a part in these grand events. Painters are always chatting to one another across time, I find. We borrow, steal, and riff off of each other's ideas. It’s about how you bring your own weirdness, your own perspective to the conversation. That's what makes it all so juicy.