Perfil de Zulmira 1928

Lasar Segall made this painting, "Perfil de Zulmira," and what strikes me is how the painting comes into being through shifting colors and shapes that give a feeling of form. I can almost feel the artist moving paint around, trying to find Zulmira in the midst of it all. The colors – pinks, browns, yellows, and whites – feel warm and inviting. The paint itself looks smooth, almost like a velvety surface, and the strokes seem deliberate, each one adding to the overall feeling of the painting. It's like Segall is speaking to us through the paint, sharing a bit of Zulmira's essence, or perhaps her enigma. It reminds me a little of Matisse, how he used color and form to capture a feeling, a mood. Artists inspire each other across time, sparking new ideas and ways of seeing. And, in the end, we're left with a painting that invites us to linger, to question, and to feel.