Zátiší s kančí hlavou 1949

Emil Filla made this still life with a boar’s head sometime during his career, maybe with oil paint. The way the colours are blocked in feels immediate, like he's trying to grab the feeling of the objects. Check out the boar's head, all slashy and drippy, like he's throwing the paint on. It’s not about getting it "right", it’s about making something that vibrates with life, or maybe, like with the boar's head, something after life. The paint has a matte flatness, but the marks are really alive. That zigzaggy white line separating the yellow and black, it's like a jolt of electricity. Filla's letting us see his thinking, the push and pull. It reminds me of Braque, how he took apart objects to show you all the different angles at once. Art is a conversation, right? We all borrow, steal, and try to make it our own.