The Madwoman 1905

Giacomo Balla made this painting, The Madwoman, with oil on canvas. Look at the way Balla laid down the paint, almost pointillist, like tiny dabs of colour building form. It’s as if he’s not just showing us a woman, but the very act of seeing her, the light hitting her, the air around her shimmering. I wonder what Balla was thinking about when he painted this woman? The ochre and the blues seem to vibrate with a kind of nervous energy, like he’s trying to capture something fleeting, something just out of reach. The way he’s rendered the shadows on the door… It’s not just about light and dark, it’s about mood, about the feeling of being on the edge of something, maybe madness itself. Painters like Balla were in constant dialogue, pushing each other, questioning what painting could do. And that’s what makes it exciting, right? It’s not about answers, it’s about the questions, the endless possibilities of what paint can do, what it can express.