Tarmen 1985

Bo Bartlett painted "Tarmen" with oils, and at first glance, it's the realism that grabs you, right? But look closer, and you'll see the way the light kinda pools and gathers. It's not just about depicting reality; it’s about feeling it. I'm drawn to the guy with the orange hat and the way he bends, he's almost folded in half with the effort. The paint is thin, almost watery in places, especially in the sky, giving it this hazy, dreamlike quality, but thickens around the figures, grounding them. You can see the brushstrokes, how the paint is layered to capture the light on their skin, the sweat, the grit. It's like he's trying to catch something fleeting, something beyond just the scene in front of him. It reminds me of some of Lucian Freud's paintings, but with more space, and air to breathe. It's a conversation across time, this dance between observation and interpretation, and that's what makes art so endlessly fascinating, isn’t it?