The City Park 1912

Kmetty János made this painting of The City Park with oil on canvas, and I’m really feeling how the artist played around with light and shadow. I can imagine János standing in the park, squinting, trying to capture the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees, probably muttering to himself about the challenges of painting outdoors. The way he's dabbed the greens and blues onto the canvas, it's almost like he's wrestling with the fleeting moments of a sunny afternoon. There's a dialogue happening between the foreground and background, too. Notice how the brushstrokes become looser and more impressionistic the further back you go? It's like he's inviting us to get lost in the haze of a dream or a memory. I always think that every painting is a conversation between artists, living and dead. János might have looked at artists like Bonnard, or Vuillard, or vice versa. It's like we're all just passing notes in a big, never-ending art class.