Bouquet De Fleurs 1950

Carlos Nadal made this still life painting called *Bouquet De Fleurs* with oil paint. It's really got that painterly thing going on, where you can see all the brushstrokes, the way the colors are laid down next to each other, creating all sorts of interesting textures and a real sense of movement. I imagine Nadal setting up this scene, maybe on a sunny afternoon, carefully arranging the flowers, the plates, the little delicacies… I love how he captures the light bouncing off the glass vase and the way the colors in the bouquet vibrate against the floral wallpaper behind. There's a tension between the flatness of the background pattern and the depth he creates with the objects in the foreground. It reminds me of some of the early modernists, like Bonnard or Matisse, in the way he's using color to create mood and atmosphere, not just to describe what he's seeing. It makes me think about how artists are always in conversation with each other, borrowing and riffing on ideas across time. They make something new, that’s definitely in conversation with something old.