Meitenes portrets. 1964

Guntis Strupulis painted this portrait, ‘Meitenes Portrets’, with what looks like watercolor, or maybe gouache – something with that kind of gentle, yielding quality. The background is this soft peach, almost like the paper itself is glowing. Then, you see how the fur collar is painted, each stroke suggesting the fluffiness, the texture just begging to be touched. It's not about perfection, more about feeling. Look at the line of the coat - see how the dark paint fades in places, and gathers in others? And the face - those delicate washes of color, almost like a memory surfacing. I think of someone like Marlene Dumas, who also uses the fragility of watercolor to capture a kind of raw emotion. This piece is a beautiful reminder that art is often more about the process of seeing, and feeling, than about perfect representation.