Woman Painter 1934

This is Istvan Ilosvai Varga’s ‘Woman Painter’, and I can feel the sun beating down! Varga has used a Fauvist palette of blues, greens and yellows with a distinct painterly gesture to depict a painter at work. I love how the artist depicts another artist—a woman standing en plein air, painting a nude figure. The image has a loose, dreamlike quality, as the forms and figures blend. I wonder what Varga was thinking when he made this? Was he making a comment about the creative process, or paying homage to the work of women artists? The brushstrokes are quick and expressive; the artist’s hand seems to have moved freely across the canvas. It makes me want to pick up a brush myself! When we look at paintings, we’re always in conversation with other artists across time. Each work opens new possibilities. In the end, all we can do is add our voices to the mix!