Vase With Flowers and Fruit 2001

Aldemir Martins made this still life with paint that’s laid down almost haphazardly. Everything is a kind of joyful mess, but somehow the colours and shapes really sing together! Check out the blue brushstrokes outlining the vase – they're not trying to be neat or perfect, and the way the paint sort of smears around gives it this cool, immediate feeling. The little red heart on the vase, like a kid scribbled it there, adds a playful note to the whole scene. I get a sense that he’s looking back to Matisse, but with his own take. And you can see how this love of colour and form carries through his whole career. Martins isn't interested in getting things exactly "right," but it's this looseness that makes the painting so alive, like he is saying, "Here is what I see and feel," and that’s what makes it so engaging.