Tanzende Negerinnen 1904

Leo Putz made Tanzende Negerinnen with oil paint, but when is anyone’s guess, right? The whole thing is like a half-remembered dream, just swirls of ochre, green and brown, and these fantastic peacock feathers. It’s all in motion, you know? If you get up close, you can see how thinly the paint is applied in places, almost like a stain. The texture is smooth, but there's a real physicality to the way the figures are rendered. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the canvas, building up these dancers one layer at a time. It reminds me of Van Gogh, except instead of painting with thick impasto, Putz is brushing the paint, so, so, softly, softening the edges to make the painting look dream-like. It’s this sense of fluidity and ambiguity that makes the painting so intriguing. It feels unfinished, open to multiple interpretations. It's a dance of color, a play of light and shadow, and a celebration of the pure joy of making art.