Vajda Lajos Girl with Candles, 1936, Oil on Paper, 568x55cm 1936

Vajda Lajos made Girl with Candles on paper with oil in 1936. There’s something immediately striking about the way Lajos builds up the image; it’s all about the surface, the marks that create this solemn figure. Look at the texture, especially in the background. The warm orange doesn't sit flat; you can almost feel the movement of the brush, the layering of paint. And then there's the girl herself. Her face is an oval of dark, brooding color, a void in which the eyes and mouth emerge as hints, mere suggestions. It's a face that’s there and not there, a face that haunts. The grid that makes up the body, it’s like she’s trapped in a cage of her own making. This recalls some of Francis Bacon’s later portraits, where the subjects are similarly distorted by geometric armatures. It’s a reminder that art isn't about answers, it’s about the questions we ask.