Girl with Red Shawl 1934

Bela Czobel made this painting of a girl in a red shawl with oil on canvas. The palette is really alive, jumping from warm yellows and reds to cool blues and whites. There’s a rawness here, a sense of immediacy, like Czobel was working fast, trying to capture something before it disappeared. Looking closely, you can see the paint handling is juicy. It's thick in places, especially in the way the blue is built up on her dress, giving it a sculptural quality. There's a real physicality to the medium, and you can almost feel the movement of his hand, the energy of his brushstrokes. The brushwork around her face is looser, more suggestive, creating a softness around her eyes and mouth, which is kind of sweet. I am reminded of other artists with a love for bold color and expressive brushwork, like Maurice de Vlaminck. Ultimately, art is a conversation, a back-and-forth across time. And Czobel's painting invites us to join in, to bring our own experiences and interpretations to the table.