Before the Repast at Emmaus c. 1910

Jean-Louis Forain made this loose, suggestive painting, Before the Repast at Emmaus, with brown ink and wash on paper. He seems to be getting at something more like a feeling than a scene. The ink washes are swift, almost nervous, and yet controlled in the way the bodies and forms emerge from the paper. The effect is a world captured in the moment of becoming. I'm drawn to the way the head of the figure on the left is tilted, as though burdened by thought. The thin wash of brown ink is so economical, it’s as if the artist has reached into the subconscious to pull out these forms. Forain reminds me a little of Daumier, in his focus on the human figure, or maybe even Goya, in the expressive possibilities he finds in such limited means. Ultimately, art isn't about answers, it's about the questions it leaves us with.