Nudo sdraiato 1940

Renato Guttuso painted ‘Nudo sdraiato’ with oil on canvas, and although the date of the artwork is unknown, it has an atmosphere of the mid 20th century. I'm imagining Guttuso with a brush full of red paint, thinking about Titian, wanting to make it new. The model is lying on the bed, the door behind her looks like a dark rectangle, maybe ajar? There's something very Italian about the warm light, like a Fellini film. It feels bold, like he didn't want to blend the colours too much. He kept the colour separate, and the paint looks as if it was almost squeezed from the tube. The red is almost like another figure in the painting, a bright, almost angry, presence against the fleshy nude. He’s really using colour and composition to convey the emotion, but also a sense of history. It reminds me of other artists’ nude paintings, but with an existential twist. Painting is a conversation, right? And Guttuso had something to add.