Mystical head 1917

This is Alexej von Jawlensky’s ‘Mystical Head’, and it’s made with oil paint. Just imagine Jawlensky daubing and stroking the canvas, building up the head from patches of color! There’s pink, yellow, and turquoise. It's all blocked in, kind of expressionistic, with bold outlines that remind me of stained glass. The eyes are intense, staring right through you, while the mouth is just a simple yellow dash. I wonder, what was going through Jawlensky’s mind as he laid down these colors, these shapes? He was part of the New Artists' Association in Munich, searching for a new kind of spiritual expression in art. It's like he’s not just painting a face, but trying to capture some deeper essence, some inner truth. Painters like him were in a constant conversation across time and space, challenging each other, borrowing ideas. Each brushstroke is a statement, a question, an invitation to see the world in a new way.