Woman Milking a Cow 1916

This painting of a woman milking a cow was made by Niko Pirosmani, at some point in his life, using oil on oilcloth. Pirosmani's style is so distinctive; he has this way of making color so, so vibrant and immediate. This red here is incredible - it just radiates. I imagine him applying these colors directly, almost raw. This is not glazed or fussed over, and it's so moving to me. I find the way that he flattens everything towards the front, and then lets the background just disappear is such a powerful decision. You sense he might have been thinking about folk art traditions. Maybe, he was thinking about other painters too. We all are. But what I find most wonderful here is this deep, clear-sighted empathy for this everyday scene. He paints the cow and the woman milking the cow in the field, it's not just a job, it's a lived, shared moment of being. It's the stuff of life.