Mourning 1910

Umberto Boccioni made this painting, *Mourning*, and I'm just diving in, because the color relationships are so intense. The brushwork looks pretty frantic, like he's wrestling with the paint to get it to embody grief. There's this churning, roiling energy in the paint itself. Those flowers on either side, are they flowers or explosions? The old woman's hands are so angular, like she's trying to grasp something that's already gone. And then there's this spectral red figure emerging from the darkness, is that the one being mourned? The more you look, the less certain you are, the more the painting throws you into an emotional space, which is what mourning is all about. Looking at it I'm reminded of Edvard Munch, another artist who wasn't afraid to get messy with feelings. Art isn't about answers, it's about feeling the questions.