Dedinčanka 1937 - 1938

Mikuláš Galanda made this picture, Dedinčanka, with paint, and it feels like he’s feeling his way through the image. The paint is gauzy, see-through, like watercolor, even though it's probably gouache. I love the way Galanda lays down the color in these hazy patches. It's not quite representational and not quite abstract, but somewhere in between. It’s like he’s letting the painting find its own form, not forcing it. The woman’s veil shimmers with delicate, scumbled strokes that create an almost ethereal texture. These strokes are repeated throughout the landscape, in the background: scrubby greens and blues that form a hazy, dreamlike backdrop. This kind of open, searching mark-making reminds me a little bit of Marsden Hartley’s landscapes, but with a folksier touch. Both artists, though, share that sense of the painting as a process, a way of seeing and thinking that unfolds with each brushstroke. For both, there’s no one right answer.