Family 1940

Here is a painting by Jose de Almada-Negreiros called Family. The ochre and umber palette creates a warm emotional tone. The figures are close together, and the artist’s style reduces natural forms to simplified shapes. I wonder what he was thinking when he painted this? I can imagine the artist placing the figures, one against the other, searching for an equilibrium. He’s playing with tone and light, particularly on the father’s brown skin, to give it volume and depth. It’s interesting how he’s used line to create pattern on the father’s shirt. His embrace of his wife and child reminds me of Picasso’s blue period, when he was consumed with similar themes. Artists are always in dialogue with each other. The Portuguese painter Paula Rego would have known Almada-Negreiros’s work too. It’s exciting to think of these artists responding to each other across time, and across their different approaches to paint.