La Mora 1912

Robert Henri’s ‘La Mora’ is an oil painting that captures a moment of quiet intensity. Look how Henri uses thick, confident brushstrokes to build up the form, especially in the highlights of her blouse and the shadows of her shawl. There’s a real physicality to the paint itself, a record of Henri’s own movements and decisions. Notice the way he layers the colors, allowing them to blend and bleed into one another. It creates a sense of depth and atmosphere, pulling you into the space of the painting. The dark background really makes the figure pop. Henri was part of the Ashcan School. There are echoes of Manet in this piece, that same interest in capturing the immediacy of modern life. Like all good paintings, this one leaves plenty of room for interpretation, for us to bring our own experiences and emotions to the act of seeing.