Bust of a Woman 1914

Andre Derain’s "Bust of a Woman" is an oil on canvas that pictures a woman's head and torso in earthy browns, greens, and creams. It's like Derain built up this painting layer by layer, searching for a form as much as capturing it. You can feel his hand in the broad brushstrokes, how he’s used paint to sculpt the planes of her face. There is a vulnerability in the way she lowers her gaze. The dark contouring around her features gives her an almost sculptural presence, set against a turbulent, gestural backdrop. You wonder what he was thinking as he circled around her form, trying to feel his way into her likeness. It makes me think about other modern painters, like Vlaminck or even Matisse, all pushing at the boundaries of representation, experimenting with color and form to express something beyond the surface. Painting is an ongoing conversation, I guess, as artists continue to respond to each other across time.