God's creation 1953

Hossein Behzad's 'God's Creation' was made in 1953 with delicate washes of watercolour, a technique you can really feel in the soft blending of the sand dunes. Look closely at the woman near the tree. See how Behzad outlines her form with such fine precision? There’s this wonderful tension between the almost photo-realism of her face and the very loose, fluid rendering of the landscape around her. The painting revels in these kinds of contrasts. It reminds me of the way Matisse would use colour, both to describe form and to flatten space, creating a sense of depth and surface at the same time. What really grabs me is the way Behzad uses colour to create an emotional atmosphere. The warm ochres and pinks give a feeling of serenity, while the cool blues and greens in the foreground add a touch of mystery. I find a similar tension in the work of Etel Adnan, who uses vibrant blocks of colour to evoke both the beauty and the political turmoil of the Middle East. Art is such a fascinating conversation across time, isn’t it?