Majorcan Fisherman 1915

Roberto Montenegro made this painting of a Majorcan Fisherman with oil on canvas sometime in the early 20th century. The whole scene is built up through marks, like how the stripes on the fisherman’s shirt are not quite parallel, but waver like water reflecting light. The thick texture of the paint gives the whole image a kind of grounded solidity. I can see this especially in the way the face is rendered. The strokes are small, solid, and compact, giving the face a subtle but firm sense of volume. The marks are not blended or smoothed but left as individual, distinct strokes of colour. This approach to mark-making and materiality feels similar to Cézanne, who built up forms through colour and brushstroke. Like Cézanne, Montenegro embraces a kind of ambiguity. The image feels both solid and slightly unstable, as if it might dissolve into pure colour at any moment.