Mies ja malli, luonnos 1902 - 1909

Magnus Enckell made this sketch, ‘Mies ja malli, luonnos’ with watercolor using delicate red hues, and just look at the way these figures emerged. I can almost imagine Enckell in the studio, trying to capture the essence of the human form. The thin paint allows for subtle shifts in tone, creating depth and volume with a limited palette. See the way the red lines seem to dance across the surface of the paper, defining the contours of the bodies with minimal strokes? The composition feels intimate, with the two figures seemingly sharing a private moment. The male figure is seated; the artist uses bold strokes to capture the subject’s shape. The woman has a very soft body. The figures look pensive, and the serpent at the bottom adds a sense of mystery. Painting is an exchange of ideas, and artists inspire one another’s creativity. The exchange of ideas in art is the spirit of painting, and in that spirit, we must embrace ambiguity and uncertainty to let a piece speak to us in different ways.