White stork 1970

Ivan Generalic’s painting, “White Stork,” is made with oil on glass, giving the whole scene a luminous, almost dreamlike quality. The vibrant colour is a huge part of what grabs you. Check out that red cow, and the bright green grass! It’s so different from how we usually see the world, which makes you wonder about the artist’s process. Were they trying to copy reality, or did they want to make something new? And then, look closer at the stork, standing so confidently on that red cow. It is so flat, a collection of shapes, and yet there’s so much energy in the way the wings spread out. It's all very deliberately placed, like a puzzle where each piece has its own strong color that adds to the whole picture. Generalic reminds me a bit of Henri Rousseau, who also painted these incredible scenes that seem real and surreal at the same time. It's a folk vision, it embraces the unexpected and celebrates the magic in the everyday.