Portrait of Painter Marcin Samlicki 1919

Olga Boznanska painted this portrait of Marcin Samlicki with oil. The colours are quite subdued. There's a lot of brown and black, but then she uses these little flecks of colour to bring it to life. It reminds me of how I approach my own paintings, a constant push and pull, layering and adjusting until the form emerges from the surface. Look at the rendering of his hands, the texture is thick, almost crusty, giving them a tactile, sculptural presence. It's like she's trying to capture something beyond just his likeness, reaching for his essence. And then there's the way she's handled the light. See how it catches on his face, especially around his eyes and nose? It's subtle, but it gives him this incredible depth, makes him feel so present. You know, I'm reminded of Whistler, how he also used a limited palette to create these really atmospheric portraits. It's like they're both tapping into this idea of painting as a process of revealing, of uncovering the hidden layers of a person or a place.