On the beach 1933 - 1934

Mikuláš Galanda made this painting, 'On the Beach,' with paint on paper. It's a dreamy beach scene with clouds, bathers, a brick wall, and a boat. You can almost feel Galanda figuring things out as he goes. I imagine him, brush in hand, stepping back, squinting, adding a bit here, erasing a bit there. The paint is laid down in these flat, almost childlike blocks of color – that dreamy blue sea, the salmon-colored sand, the little fluffy clouds. Then, these elegant black lines come in and give definition to the figures. It's a push and pull between abstraction and figuration. I'm struck by the simple, almost radical, act of just putting paint down on paper. It's like he’s saying, "Here's what I see, here's how I feel about it." You see echoes of Matisse and maybe even a touch of early Picasso in the way he simplifies form. We build on the shoulders of those who came before us.