Street with a pastry shop 1926 - 1928

Mikuláš Galanda made this watercolour painting, Street with a pastry shop, in what was then Czechoslovakia, in the early 20th century. Although Galanda was familiar with the work of avant-garde artists in Paris, in this painting, he seems to consciously distance himself from their radical approach, with its abstracted figures and subdued tones. This creates a nostalgic atmosphere, a yearning for a simpler, perhaps more provincial, way of life. Galanda's work has a melancholy air which is typical of interwar art. In his paintings, prints and drawings he often evoked the social and political tensions of his time. Galanda had been among the first artists to question the aesthetic guidelines of the interwar art establishment in Czechoslovakia, and played a crucial role in formulating the new principles of modernism. Art historians have often had to rely on personal letters and exhibition reviews to interpret his work. Through this type of research, the meaning of art comes to light as something that is contingent on social and institutional context.