Separated 1941

Istvan Farkas painted "Separated" with these melancholic colors and shadowy figures and I'm thinking, what was it like to make this? Did the artist slowly build up the layers, trying to capture the feeling of isolation with each brushstroke? The weight of the man's coat, rendered in shades of green, feels heavy with unspoken words. I see a dialogue between the figures, as if they are stuck together and separated at the same time, with the orange of the ground and the sky intensifying that emotion. There's a painterly conversation happening between the planes of color: the way the ochre highlights define and flatten the volumes, the dark outlines, and the use of unblended color that adds to the overall mood. Farkas’s painting reminds me of other figurative artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who used simple forms and strong colors to depict the complexities of human experience. It is comforting to think that all of us artists are in this conversation together, sharing our struggles, and inspiring each other across time.