Still Life with Fruits 1930

Kmetty János made this still life with oil paint, maybe in the early 20th century, who knows? He's using these ochre and brown colors and really blunt marks, like the paint was dragged on with a palette knife or something. There's an energy in that approach, a kind of process that feels more important than perfectly rendering some fruit. Look how the texture really comes alive. The whites of the cup jump out, thick and almost chalky. It's like Kmetty is building up these little peaks and valleys of paint to catch the light. The apples are solid in color, but if you follow the brush strokes you can see the roundness of the forms. And that green apple, it has this kind of muted tone, like it's being swallowed up by the shadows, which reminds me of how Morandi would paint the same collection of bottles and cups over and over again, each time with different light. Art is an ongoing conversation. Kmetty is asking questions rather than making statements.