Cow drinking water 1972

Ivan Generalic painted this winter scene with a cow drinking water. It's a painting that feels made rather than found, built up from the careful application of color, and lots of it. The paint here isn't trying to trick you into thinking it's something else; it's just paint, but it’s paint used with such care, it’s like folk art meets the old masters. There’s a red cow in the foreground; the eye is drawn to it against the snow. The color is so pure, so flat, it reminds me of early Italian painting. The branches of the trees have a similar feel. Look at the little clouds of bushes and trees, so repetitive but so charming. Generalic makes me think of Henri Rousseau, another artist who understood that painting is just as much about making as it is about seeing. He takes the everyday and elevates it to something magical. Like a shared dream we can all wake up to.