Woman in a Café: Compenetrations of Lights and Planes 1912

Umberto Boccioni made this painting, Woman in a Café, with oil on canvas, but when it was exactly, nobody knows. Look at how he's put it all together, like a puzzle of colour and light. It's all about movement, that Futurist obsession with showing how things change and interact. The brushstrokes are quick, energetic, like he's trying to capture the fleeting moment, the buzz of the café. The colours are intense - reds, blues, yellows crashing into each other, like the sounds of the city. The surface is alive with activity, Boccioni isn’t trying to hide the process. Take a look at that yellow shape at the bottom. Is it a hand? A table? It doesn't really matter. It's all part of this dynamic composition, this constant state of becoming. This piece reminds me of some of Picabia’s early work, the way he’s breaking down form and playing with perspective. It's like they're both asking: what does it mean to see, and how can painting show us something new?