Polonia II 1914

Jacek Malczewski made Polonia II, with oil on canvas, and in it the figures emerge from a smoky blue ground with the light and colour of Renaissance painting. I imagine Malczewski, brush in hand, circling the canvas. The painting feels like a shifting, breathing thing, something that’s come into being through trial, error, and intuition. Look at the female figure, her arms crossed, her gaze lowered. The paint is creamy, almost luminous, especially on her skin. There’s a vulnerability in the gesture that is so sensitively rendered. And the guy next to her, all tanned and buff, with the most compelling hand gesture—as if he is about to touch her but then decides not to. Painters are always looking at other painters, borrowing, stealing, and riffing off of each other. Malczewski surely knew the Old Masters. This painting offers a way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world through a modern lens, continuing a conversation with art history. It's a reminder that art-making embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations rather than fixed meanings.