Woman with a Cup 1916 1916

Kmetty János painted "Woman with a Cup" in 1916, and it’s like stepping into a moment frozen in time. The colours are muted, almost as if the painting itself is lost in thought, and the brushstrokes are confident, laying down facets of tone and shade with an easy assurance. There’s a beautiful weight to everything, a kind of seriousness in the modelling. Look at how the light catches the woman's face, those planes and angles, and the way the cup is held, carefully, deliberately. And it’s all paint, thick and creamy, building up this quiet intensity. The reddish brown surrounding the dark body give the eye an easy path through the composition, It reminds me of Cezanne, and those careful portraits, but with its own sense of melancholy. It's a painting that doesn't give everything away at once, inviting you to linger and to reflect.