Woman Dressing 1960

Rudolf Láng's small painting, *Woman Dressing*, is made with oil on canvas, and it feels like a memory. See how the colors are muted, almost like they’ve been sitting out in the sun? There's a figure, soft and central, as if she is caught between dressing and undressing, but all the forms feel fleeting. Láng's clearly working through something, searching for a way to make figuration bend toward abstraction. I wonder if he saw her, or if he just felt her. The thick, dark strokes on the left pull me in. There’s an almost architectural vibe that reminds me of de Kooning's “Woman” paintings, but with a quieter energy. It's as though Láng is figuring out how to make a figure, a place, and maybe even a story, all at once. And that blue at the bottom, it could be water, it could be a floor. It reminds me of the way artists are always talking to each other across time, taking and leaving ideas, and making something new in the process.