Triple portrait 1933

Kazimir Malevich made this painting with what looks like oil on canvas, and wow, it’s a party of faces, right? The colours are so upfront, like they're shouting for attention, and the brushstrokes, you can almost feel him dabbing the paint on, one colour right next to another. Now, check out the face in the middle, especially how he's built up the planes of the face in tones of grey, like a cubist sculpture. There's something almost urgent about those marks, and they seem to be searching for something beyond just likeness. It reminds me of the early fauvist portraits of Matisse, especially the way they both use colour to define form and evoke a feeling that goes beyond the surface, a conversation between the artist's eye and the subject. It’s a reminder that painting is, after all, a way of seeing, a way of thinking out loud.