Company Bego 1907

This is Niko Pirosmani’s “Company Bego,” a painting in oil on oilcloth, hanging here in Tbilisi. The color is very built up, like simple layers. Look at how the fish is rendered; it’s just a silver smudge with some very basic lines. The whole piece has this rough charm about it, the lack of perspective actually gives it a kind of raw immediacy. I mean, look at that table, it’s more of an idea of a table. The painting’s surface is crude, unvarnished. I’m reminded of Henri Rousseau, another self taught painter with a knack for simplified forms and bold compositions. Both artists share a kind of directness that’s both disarming and deeply affecting. I think art is about this conversation between artists, each building on what came before, playing with the rules, or ignoring them altogether.