Three Egyptian Women 1911

Konstantinos Maleas’ painting, *Three Egyptian Women,* shimmers with a heat haze of creamy whites, ochres, and blues. You can almost feel the thick impasto as it builds up the desert landscape, the sun bleaching out the colors, turning the figures into silhouettes. I imagine Maleas squinting, brush in hand, trying to capture the light, layer upon layer. See how the strokes in the foreground run horizontally, drawing us into the scene? The figures themselves are solid, but somehow insubstantial, ghosts in the landscape. Maybe he was thinking about Cezanne as he made this, simplifying form and color to their essence. There's a quiet dignity to these women as they are standing there, timeless against the ancient landscape, their forms echoing the shapes of the dunes. You get the sense of how artists, like these figures, are always passing through, trying to make sense of the world, and of each other, through paint. It's like we are all in conversation across time.