Menino com Pássaro 1957

Candido Portinari painted this work, "Menino com Pássaro," with an unknown medium, date, and location; its texture, though, speaks volumes. The way the paint is applied in short, choppy strokes—almost like a mosaic—makes me think about how we construct meaning, piece by piece. Look closely at the boy's shirt. Each stroke is distinct, yet they come together to form the fabric’s pattern. It's not blended or smoothed; it's raw, immediate. And notice how Portinari uses this same technique throughout the painting, from the background to the boy's face. This connects everything, binding the figure to his environment. It also lends a kind of fragility, a sense that the image could dissolve back into its component parts at any moment. It reminds me of Guston’s late work. Like Guston, Portinari seems to be grappling with the messy, imperfect nature of representation itself. It is a reminder that art is a process of building and unbuilding, of seeing and unseeing.