The Artist's Wife and Baby 1937

David Bomberg made this painting of his wife and baby using oil paint. Just look at these brushstrokes, heavy with feeling! The painting seems to have emerged through this dance of color, this push and pull of intuition. I imagine Bomberg, grappling with the weight and wonder of new fatherhood. Those blues, layered and intense, create a sense of depth, almost like a protective embrace. And then, those bursts of red and yellow – are they the baby's warmth, the mother's love, or maybe even the artist’s own anxieties and joys swirling together? I wonder if the baby fusses, the mother soothes, and Bomberg tries to capture it all in one go. The smeared mouth gesture seems so tender. You feel like you can see Bomberg experimenting, working against, but in conversation with other expressionist painters like Kirchner or Heckel. They, too, were feeling it all and putting it down wet on wet. Painting is like a big, messy, beautiful conversation that never ends.