Garden Party 1968

Ivan Generalic made Garden Party, sometime in the 20th century, I'm guessing with oil on canvas. The color palette is earthy, yet vibrant, and the paint looks evenly applied, almost like house paint. Looking closely, the characters seem to be moving in a kind of slow-motion dance, their expressions frozen in time. The artist isn’t trying to trick us with perspective. Instead, he flattens everything out, kind of like in folk art, where it's more about the story than realism. Check out how the woman with the white headscarf and red dress is embracing the man in yellow. It's like they're caught in a perpetual waltz, their bodies slightly off-kilter, but their connection palpable. Generalic's work is often compared to other naive or self-taught artists who paint from the heart, without formal training. It's this very lack of self-consciousness that makes the painting so charming. It leaves you with a sense of wonder, as if you've stumbled into a world where anything is possible, and the party never ends.