Portrait of Aunt Pepa 1942

Rafael Zabaleta made this compelling portrait of his Aunt Pepa, using oil paint, at an unknown date. The first thing that grabs me is the colors— that saturated blue in the window juxtaposed against the warm oranges and reds, creating such a depth and vibrancy. There’s a beautiful tension between the flatness of the forms and the illusion of space, as if the artist is both constructing and deconstructing a world at once. Look at the way the planes of her face are built up with these distinct, almost geometric shapes. It's like Zabaleta is building an Aunt Pepa brick by brick, color by color. The cat wrapped around her arm anchors her in the space, its furry texture a tactile invitation to touch. Zabaleta is clearly in conversation with artists like Cezanne and Picasso, but he brings his own raw, emotional intensity to the table. It reminds me that art is an ongoing exploration, a way of seeing and feeling our way through the world, and Zabaleta invites us to join him in this process.