Kitchen-maids 1962

Andre Masson made this painting, *Kitchen-maids*, with oil on canvas, and it feels like he's really playing with the idea of what a painting *can* be. The surface has this almost scumbled look, like he's pushing the paint around, letting the colors blend and blur. It’s a really intuitive way of working, more like feeling your way through the painting rather than meticulously planning it out. See how the browns and blacks create these bold, almost cartoonish outlines? They give the piece a sense of immediacy, like he's capturing a fleeting moment or a quick sketch. There's a section on the right where you can see the way he's layered the paint, letting the colors peek through. It's almost like he's building up a history of marks, each one informing the next. I see a little bit of Matta in this kind of surrealist approach, but also Masson’s own unique take, embracing ambiguity and letting the painting find its own form.