Rococo 1904

Lajos Gulacsy made this painting, titled Rococo, with oils, rendering a scene that feels both intimate and distant. The colour palette is quite restrained, mostly earth tones and muted reds, which gives it a kind of dreamlike quality. What strikes me is the texture – you can almost feel the brushstrokes and the way the paint has been layered on the canvas, particularly in the dresses of the figures. Gulacsy’s got this way of making the figures glow from within, it’s like they're lit by their own inner lives. The way the light is suggested near the centre of the piece really pulls you in, doesn’t it? Gulacsy’s work reminds me a bit of Ensor, with that same feeling of melancholy and the sense of something just out of reach. Ultimately, I think this painting is about the way we construct our own realities and the way we find meaning in the world around us.