Nude 1950

Roberto Matta made this painting, simply titled ‘Nude,’ probably sometime in the middle of the 20th century. Look at how the body kind of emerges from this hazy, atmospheric space, like a memory or a dream. I can imagine Matta, brush in hand, coaxing these forms into being, one stroke at a time. See that little touch of red and blue on the chest? It's like a secret whispered into the painting, a jolt of pure feeling. And those fluid lines, they’re so delicate, almost like a drawing in the air. Matta was always pushing boundaries, trying to capture something beyond the surface of things. Painters are always riffing off each other, you know? They are in conversation across time. "Nude" reminds me of a lot of artists grappling with the figure, like de Kooning and Gorky. It is another angle on what a body can be in painting. It's about ambiguity, about not knowing for sure. And that's what makes it so alive.