Female Portrait 1958

This is Hryhorii Havrylenko’s watercolour painting of a woman. It’s a delicate piece, with a light touch. I imagine Havrylenko layering these washes of blue and pink, one on top of the other, letting them bleed together, finding the form slowly. There's something so vulnerable about watercolour, no going back! The woman seems lost in thought, maybe gazing out at the landscape. The blue bleeds into the pink of the clouds, and the trees are like lollipops in the distance. The pink of her dress glows against the blue, radiating warmth. It's a very personal and intimate piece, like a daydream or a memory. I bet Havrylenko made a lot of paintings just like this one, each one slightly different, each one capturing a fleeting moment. I can almost feel the artist's presence, hovering just behind the painting.