Fishing Boats 1932

Mikuláš Galanda made this painting of fishing boats with paint, and it’s all about the simple joy of putting colour on a surface. Look at that water! The pale blue is so obviously paint, each stroke a little wave. It's not trying to fool you into thinking it's real water, which is what I love about it. The material reality of the paint here is so present. The boats are red, almost violently so, and the grey wall grounds the whole scene, offering a kind of stability to the more dreamlike quality of the boats. See how the masts and rigging are rendered with such directness? It’s like he's saying, "Here is a line, and here is another," and together they make a thing, but the thing is always secondary to the gesture of its making. It puts me in mind of Giorgio Morandi, the way he, too, could find endless fascination in simple arrangements, but Galanda’s touch feels rougher, more immediate. For both of them, it’s not about what you paint but how—that’s where the real conversation begins.