Italian girl 1923

André Derain made this painting called "Italian Girl" with oils, and it’s interesting to see how he builds up form. The colors are so earthy. There's this incredible warmth in her skin tones, and the way her dress is painted. I wonder what kind of brush he was using. See the folds in the sleeves? Those are very definite marks. Then there's the softness of her face, like the subtle blending around her eyes. It looks like maybe he rubbed the paint back. And those hands! They are just sitting there, all clasped together. I keep coming back to them, what do you think they tell us about her? Derain was part of the Fauves, those wild beasts of early modernism, right? You can really see this legacy here, but he clearly had his own ideas about painting, and about how to see.