Interior with Leland 1946

Louisa Matthiasdottir conjured this scene with oil on canvas, layering blocks of color and form. I can almost feel the thick impasto, each stroke a deliberate decision, a kind of searching. I imagine Matthiasdottir standing before the canvas, brush in hand, head tilted, trying to capture the essence of that interior space, the way the light hits Leland's face. She simplifies, abstracts, and reduces it all to these essential shapes and hues, but in those choices, there is such depth. The blues are brooding, the reds assertive, and the yellows, hopeful. It makes me wonder what the relationships were like between the artist and her subjects. I see echoes of Milton Avery's color planes and maybe a nod to Fairfield Porter's domestic scenes. It's like they're all in conversation across time, sharing secrets about how to distill the world onto a flat surface. Ultimately, painting is about more than just what we see; it's about feeling, thinking, and wrestling with the world, all while leaving space for ambiguity.