Maria y Consuelo 1906

Robert Henri made this painting, Maria y Consuelo, with oils. Look at the way the marks have been made, so quickly and gesturally, the shapes just pulled out of the darkness. The dark background feels almost like a void, and this makes the figures stand out even more. See how Henri uses these spots of colour on the skirt to pull our eyes down the painting. The brushwork is thick but loose, especially around the shawl. Then there’s that flash of red, on the dress and child’s clothes, drawing your eye right in. It is almost like the painting is a process of reduction – starting with a big idea and chiselling it down. Henri’s a bit like Manet in that he’s interested in the real, the everyday, not some idealised image. The thing about painting, though, is it’s never really finished, is it? It just keeps evolving, changing, just like us.