Girl with a jug 1932 - 1936

Mikuláš Galanda sketched ‘Girl with a jug’ with pencil, probably sometime in the early 20th century. The marks are tentative, searching, like he’s feeling his way through the subject. You get the sense that the act of drawing itself is a journey of discovery. Look at the way he uses these soft blues and reds, almost like an underpainting, letting the form emerge gradually. The texture of the paper peeks through, giving the image a lightness, an airy quality. The lines aren’t heavy or definitive, more like suggestions, allowing the viewer to fill in the blanks. The whole thing has a kind of quiet intimacy, doesn’t it? I’m reminded a little of Picasso’s blue period, that same sense of melancholy, but with a uniquely Galanda twist. You can see the conversation artists have with one another across time, each one building on what came before, pushing things in new directions, embracing the beautiful messiness of it all.