Naturaleza Muerta Mujer Con Mandolina 1918

María Blanchard, a Spanish artist who lived in Paris, made this painting – ‘Naturaleza Muerta Mujer Con Mandolina’ – with oils. You can see how Blanchard approached painting like a slow build, carefully piecing together these geometric shapes. Imagine what it might have been like to create this Cubist painting! What would you do with the limited palette, and how would you give the figure her presence? I bet she was thinking about Picasso, Gris, and Braque, those Cubist guys, and how to make it her own, as a woman and a painter. Notice the earth tones and how the forms shift and slide over one another. Is she happy? Moody? Focused? These artists are always talking to one another across time, inspiring each other’s creativity. Like a painter’s game of telephone, where the message mutates and changes as it’s passed on! With painting there's ambiguity, and so many possible meanings.