Jaguar Family 1980

LeRoy Neiman made this painting, Jaguar Family, with expressive marks and vibrant colors, and, wow, there's a lot going on! I can almost feel him at work here: splattering, smearing, and daubing at the canvas, maybe even using his fingers! I wonder if he was thinking about Matisse as he was making this? Look at those bright greens, oranges, and blues. He’s built up the image of a family of jaguars with small strokes of pure color. What’s so cool is how he’s capturing the animal’s essence, not through careful rendering, but through lively, spontaneous brushwork. The overall effect is energetic and joyful, the green background humming with life. It reminds me that painting is as much about feeling as it is about seeing. These gestures really do communicate a sense of movement and vitality. It's almost like he’s letting the jaguars out of their cage and releasing them into the wild of the canvas! Artists are always talking to each other across time, riffing on each other’s ideas. It’s this constant conversation that keeps painting fresh, ambiguous, and open to new meanings.