Le petit déjeuner 1957

Emilio Grau Sala made this tender scene, “Le petit déjeuner,” with oil on canvas. Look at the juicy strokes of color, those greens and yellows swirling in the background. It feels like the artist was wrestling with the paint, pushing it around to find just the right balance between representation and something more…expressive. I imagine Grau Sala stepping back, squinting, maybe even muttering to himself as he worked. Did he struggle with the way the light fell on the mother's face, or the curve of the baby’s cheek? I’ve been there myself, obsessing over a single brushstroke! The paint is creamy and thick in places, especially in the mother’s patterned shirt, giving it a sculptural feel. The way the pinks and whites blend in the flowers, almost dissolving into one another, reminds me of Bonnard. There’s a real conversation happening here, across time and between artists, about how we see and feel the world, one brushstroke at a time.