Portrait of painter's wife 1917

George Bouzianis made this painting of his wife with strokes of blues and browns, almost like he was sculpting her face out of the canvas itself. I can imagine him, eyes fixed on her, trying to capture not just her likeness but a sense of her presence, using those browns to trace the curve of her brow, the shadow beneath her cheekbone. It’s like he's trying to figure her out through the act of painting, you know? The paint is applied so directly, with a kind of urgency. I wonder if it was tough living with him? That little dab of red, right at the corner of her mouth – it’s so subtle, but it brings her to life. It reminds me of some of Bonnard's intimate portraits, where he was painting his wife. You can almost feel a shared history, a conversation unfolding between them. The painting feels both like a record of observation and a testament to an ongoing conversation.