Nude 1912

Emil Filla made this nude with watercolor, and I can imagine him mixing up his washes, layering them over the paper. It's pretty Cubist, with soft greys and browns, almost like it was made from smoke. I wonder what Filla was thinking as he made it. Was he trying to figure out how a body could be broken down and then pieced back together? You can almost see the planes and facets of the body. And the thing about watercolor is that it's so hard to control. Like, you can't really boss it around. I know that feeling, when the painting takes over, and you’re just along for the ride. But somehow that’s the point, right? It takes you someplace you didn’t know you were going. I mean, what would Picasso have thought of this? They were all in conversation back then, stealing from each other, pushing each other to try new things.