Reclining Woman Reading 1939

Alexandru Ciucurencu made this picture of a woman reading with what looks like pretty fluid strokes of oil paint. I like imagining the movement of his arm, how he layered those greens and yellows to conjure a space of rest and contemplation, and how he might have felt really connected to other painters like Matisse. Did he start with an idea, or did it emerge slowly with the paint? That yellow dress glows with the intensity of summer light. It is like a field of sunflowers and somehow she remains calm in the center of it all, she rests in the heart of colour. The red dashes around the bed give off a feeling of agitation, a contrast to the still figure that makes me think about the push and pull between stillness and chaos in our own lives. It is as though he is telling us that even when the world around you is in turmoil you can still choose peace. The making of art is an ongoing dialogue, an unfolding conversation across time. Ciucurencu's painting invites us to lean into ambiguity, to find new ways of seeing and experiencing the world, and to embrace the uncertain.