Czóbel Béla Müterem 1920 1920

Bela Czobel made this painting, "Czóbel Béla Müterem," in 1920, and right away, you can see that this isn't just about depicting a room but about the act of seeing itself. The way the colors push against each other, those thick strokes of blue and yellow, it's like Czobel is inviting us into his own process. The texture is so present, you can almost feel the grit of the paint. Look at the painting on the easel, how the figure seems to emerge from the blue ground, it's a painting within a painting, a dream within a dream. The brushstrokes are so alive, so full of energy, that they almost obscure the subject matter. This reminds me of some of Bonnard's interiors, that same sense of intimacy and the blurring of boundaries between observation and imagination. For Czobel, as for Bonnard, painting isn't just about representation; it’s about creating a space for feeling and for seeing in new ways.