Dziewczynka w różowej sukience i czapce 1927

Tadeusz Makowski created this painting of a girl in a pink dress and hat at some point in his career, though we don’t know exactly when. What I like is how the brushstrokes aren’t trying to hide; they’re right there, building up the image. It's a pink world with a hint of plaid. The materiality of this piece is so important. Look closely, and you'll see the paint isn't smoothed out. It’s textured, almost chunky in places. It’s like Makowski wanted you to feel the act of painting. Notice the sleeve on the left, it’s a burst of tiny criss-crosses, a web of blue lines trying to hold the form. It's a little map of the artist's hand moving, thinking. Makowski was part of this moment in art history, around the turn of the century, of artists like Picasso and Matisse who were re-imagining childhood. The way that he uses colour and shape is like looking at a folk version of their work. It embraces the charming clumsiness of naive art, reminding us that sometimes, the most powerful statements are the ones that aren't overly polished.