Sitzende Frau 1909

This is Alexej von Jawlensky’s ‘Sitzende Frau,’ or ‘Seated Woman’ rendered with oil paint and a whole load of feeling. Can you see how the paint is applied in broad, confident strokes? I bet Jawlensky stood before this canvas, head tilted, thinking hard about colour and form. Maybe he was channeling a bit of Matisse, or even Munch. The way he's used colour, like that acid yellow on her arm, it’s not quite naturalistic, is it? It’s more about mood, emotion. I wonder if he was trying to show us something about the sitter’s inner life, her weariness, or perhaps the melancholy of modern life. Look how the dark lines define her shape, almost like stained glass. He’s simplifying, exaggerating, getting to the essence of the thing. That pink cushion she’s leaning on seems almost to vibrate against the dark greens and reds. It’s as if the colours are having a conversation, each one pushing against the other. It reminds me that painting is an ongoing dialogue between artists, a conversation across time.