Family Portrait, II 1933

Florine Stettheimer painted this 'Family Portrait, II' with oil on canvas, and it's a trip! The way she lays down these thin, translucent washes of color – it's like watercolor but with a kind of stubborn, oily persistence. I find myself looking at how the forms are outlined with this delicate precision, almost like stained glass. There's a funny tension between the flat planes and the illusion of depth, which is so playful. Look at the red flower, how it bursts forward, practically daring you to touch it. That pop of color really vibrates against the cool blues of the background, where you can almost feel the texture of the canvas coming through. It’s like the paint is breathing. Stettheimer reminds me of someone like Hilma af Klint, another artist who wasn't afraid to mix the personal with the cosmic. Both were exploring uncharted territories, creating their own visual languages, and inviting us to reconsider what painting can be. It's not about answers, it's about the questions and the openness to interpretation, always.