Animali nella notte 1935

Renato Guttuso painted "Animali nella notte" with oil on canvas, and right away you notice how the painting is built from decisive, almost violent strokes. The colour palette is full of sombre tones, but they're applied in a way that feels incredibly dynamic. Looking at this piece, I'm struck by the raw energy of the brushwork. The paint is thick, almost sculptural in places, and you can really feel the physicality of Guttuso's process. Take a look at the way he's rendered the bull's head; each dab of paint seems to capture a moment of movement, a flicker of light. It's like he's wrestling with the canvas, trying to pin down something wild and untamed. Guttuso's work has this expressive intensity, and it reminds me a bit of Franz Kline, though Guttuso brings his own Mediterranean heat to the game. In the end, it's about how we see, feel, and make sense of the world, one brushstroke at a time.