Martelo (e Três Frutos) 1991

Julio Pomar made this painting, Martelo (e Três Frutos), with what looks like oil paint on canvas and it is a wild still life. I'm immediately drawn to this loaded table: a bull's head, fish with lemon, fruit, and glassware. It feels like a feast of symbolic imagery. Pomar fearlessly layers objects and textures. I imagine him standing before the canvas, armed with brushes, knives, rags, and a palette of ochres, reds, blacks, and whites. See how the white tablecloth is built with rapid, expressive strokes, a visual shorthand for form and shadow. Pomar deploys the physicality of paint to make this an emotionally resonant work. It’s like he’s saying: this is painting, this is life, all raw and tangled and delicious. "Martelo (e Três Frutos)" feels part of a lineage, in conversation with painters like Picasso and Soutine who dared to wrestle with form and meaning. It reminds us that painting is a playground for experimentation, a space where ideas are not fixed but always in flux.