Mulher Chorando 1944

Candido Portinari made this painting, Mulher Chorando, with what looks like oil paint applied with urgency and feeling. The process feels right there on the surface. I mean, just look at the way he’s built up the paint, thick and almost sculptural in places, particularly in the woman’s hands and face. The color is wild. The purple of her dress against the blue background creates this vibrating, emotional space. There’s a rawness to the texture that grabs you; it’s not trying to be pretty. Then, those tears—almost like bloody ribbons—they’re not just tears, right? They’re a symbol, a scream. That one red tear contrasts with the pale, almost ghostly face. It really hits you. Portinari’s work reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz; that same sense of deep empathy and social consciousness. Both artists weren’t afraid to look directly at suffering. And in art, like in life, that's what matters the most, that looking.