Cigarette Makers in Seville 1924

Sir John Lavery painted these figures in Seville with the looseness of oil on canvas. Look how the brushstrokes play across the surface, like light flickering through a smoky room. I can almost feel the artist standing there, a silent observer in a bustling room of women rolling tobacco. There’s a tenderness in the way he captures their downcast eyes and the concentration etched on their faces, right? The paint is applied in these thick, juicy strokes, especially in the folds of their dresses and the glint of light on their hair. It’s so physical, you know? You can almost smell the tobacco and hear the chatter. That blue polka dot dress alone is a masterclass in color and texture, while the almost unfinished faces in the background lend an air of mystery. Lavery, like many of his contemporaries, was in dialogue with the Impressionists, each of them trying to catch that fleeting moment of life as it unfolds. And in a painting like this, Lavery shows us that the conversation between artists is never truly over.