O homem de sete cores 1916

Anita Malfatti imagined “The man of seven colors” with pastels, pushing and blending, finding form through swirling pigment. I can almost see her fingers stained with yellow, green, and blue. I wonder what it was like for her, trying to capture that figure, somewhere between classical and contemporary. He is monumental, but softened with that candy-like palette. The blues carve out his muscles, popping like he's been caught in a photographer’s flash. He’s surrounded by foliage, but is he in a jungle or a park? Does it matter? The mark-making is so physical, a bit clumsy, a bit awkward. It's the kind of uncertainty I really love in painting. Malfatti allows the painting to be unresolved. She lets the questions linger. That willingness makes me, as a viewer and a painter, feel less alone.