Bridge 1914

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso made this painting, Bridge, with oil paints. The colours are warm and earthy, like looking at something through a sepia filter. You can see that he's interested in the process of making the picture, the physical act, not just representing a thing, and each daub of paint is clearly visible. Up close, the texture is key. The surface is built from countless small marks, like mosaic tiles or grains of sand. These marks add a sense of depth and vibration to the painting. The orange arch, for example, isn't just a flat shape but a field of tiny variations that give it an inner life. Notice how the blue triangles cut through the scene, solid and flat, against the warmth of the oranges. It makes me think of another Portuguese painter, Paula Rego, especially her use of colour. But Souza-Cardoso's painting has a different feel, a sense of searching, of something coming into being right before our eyes. Art isn't about answers, it's about the questions we ask along the way.