The feast of Kupreishvili family 

Curator: Ah, “The Feast of Kupreishvili Family” by Niko Pirosmani, currently housed at the Art Museum of Georgia. It's easy to get lost in Pirosmani’s world. Editor: Absolutely. It feels both meticulously staged and strangely…raw. The figures are so formal, yet the setting feels almost dreamlike. What jumps out at you when you look at this painting? Curator: The sheer Georgian-ness of it all! The characters assembled, seemingly floating in the night; that overflowing table. The traditional garb is so rich, each with his individual gaze fixed outward. They could be at the end of their meal and at the beginning of eternity. Do you sense how he has rendered each character's interior world in his brushstroke? Editor: That's a really interesting observation, I can see that. But is that why the space feels… off? Like it’s squeezed? It creates this unsettling feeling in the midst of celebration. Curator: Precisely! The flattening of perspective adds to that wonderfully awkward tension. It is like Pirosmani observed their existence, he felt everything about their gatherings. And yet, the man's life was, alas, full of struggle. What are your thoughts on the way Pirosmani handles the background colour, so moody yet subdued? Editor: It's beautiful how such a dark color holds a very melancholic atmosphere and amplifies the table's presence. This deepens my feeling about the odd setting as though the Kupreishvili are on a theatre stage. Thank you, it was illuminating to reflect on this masterpiece! Curator: Thank *you* for noticing the melancholy, it often eludes people. Never underestimate the quiet power of Pirosmani! His folk portraits continue to resonate as a reminder of both belonging and detachment, and he painted it all with profound, personal love!