Oh, my dear city of Lublin 1914

This naive, almost cartoon-like image of the city of Lublin was created by Kazimir Malevich, although we don't know when. The piece is rendered in flat, simplified forms and a limited color palette, which immediately suggests a folk-art sensibility. Look at the way the figure is positioned with her back to us, her arms raised in what could be either a gesture of surrender or of welcome. I think this ambiguity is key. The paint looks quite thin and transparent, like watercolor, and the dark outlines give it a graphic quality. It's like a page from a children's book but with a strange undercurrent. I’m drawn to the dismembered blue figures scattered across the ground, contrasting sharply with the yellow of the woman’s dress and the red hearts. It reminds me of the work of Phillip Guston, who also embraced figuration and narrative in his later years, albeit in a very different style. Both artists, though, understood that art is a conversation, an ongoing exploration of ideas and forms across time.