White Cat 1974

Ivan Generalic painted this wonderfully odd White Cat, and I can tell you, I think the color palette is so simple it’s brilliant. The earthy red background really makes the cool white cat stand out. Looking closely, the paint application is smooth, almost flat, which gives the piece a kind of calm, surreal quality. It’s not about brushstrokes or texture, but the essence of the cat itself. That slight blue hue in the white fur, particularly around the edges, gives the cat form and a subtle depth, like light is really bouncing off it. If you look at the cat's eyes, there's this knowing, almost human-like expression. This reminds me of Rousseau, in how he uses the flatness of the paint and the strange perspective to create a world that's both familiar and totally dreamlike. It’s these kinds of paintings that remind me that art is an ongoing conversation across time, inviting us to see the world in new ways.