Czóbel Béla Városrészlet 1929 1929

Czóbel Béla made this painting of a slice of city life in 1929, and it's all about how the marks build the image. The brushstrokes are so visible, almost like they’re having a party on the canvas. I’m really drawn to the way Czóbel plays with the paint’s texture here. Look at those thick, juicy strokes of orange and yellow, especially in the foreground. You can almost feel the roughness of the brush as it dragged the paint across the surface. Then, notice how he contrasts that with the thinner washes in the sky. It's like he's not just painting what he sees, but also showing us how he sees. I am reminded a little of Maurice de Vlaminck in the way that the structures are defined by dark outlines around blocks of intense colour. But Vlaminck's colours are raw and visceral, whereas Czóbel is more interested in the overall structure of his composition. In art, there's never one way to see things, and that’s what makes it so fun, right?