Dziewczynka z rumianym policzkiem 1925

Tadeusz Makowski painted this little girl, ‘Dziewczynka z rumianym policzkiem’, which roughly translates as ‘Girl with rosy cheeks’, with oil. I love seeing an artist not afraid to leave their working out on show. The surface has a wonderful, almost chalky, texture, the paint thinned and dragged, the image built up from many layers. Look closely and you can see the way the artist has laid down the paint in blocks and strokes of pale colors, like he’s mapping the face. Then he’s gone in with that fabulous rosy cheek to bring her to life. The black squares on her dress are repeated like they’re part of a pattern. It makes me think of Vuillard, with his flat planes of color and pattern, but here there’s also something a little unsettling, a touch of the uncanny. That rosy cheek is so alive, yet the rest of her feels like a ghost.