Bouquet of roses 1931

Zygmunt Waliszewski’s ‘Bouquet of Roses’ is, as the title suggests, a painting of roses, though the whole scene reads as a still life, created with oil on canvas. I love the textural quality to the paint and the way the marks are visible, almost like the painting was made in one sitting. The application is fairly loose, and kind of clumsy, but the result is a really gorgeous painting with a fantastic material presence. I keep coming back to the marks used to describe the sky behind the flowers, they feel like a sea of thick, light blue brushstrokes, each one individually visible, and yet they coalesce to create a feeling of depth and space. It's so interesting how each rose is rendered with a similar level of abstraction, and yet they read as being so fragile and delicate. It’s hard not to see something of Matisse in this painting, perhaps his earlier still life paintings. What I love about both artists, is their ability to imply so much with so little.