Ninos 1924

Rufino Tamayo made this painting, called Ninos, and well, we're not sure exactly when. Looking at the surface, it’s got this slightly granular quality, like he’s scumbled the paint on. This process gives the whole thing a kind of earthy feel. I'm drawn to the way Tamayo handles color, it's a subdued palette, but with surprising warmth. There's a sort of glow about the figures and the landscape they occupy. If you look at the legs of the children, they're a kind of reddish-pink which just shines through the green of the grass. It feels like the artist is less interested in describing how things look exactly, and more interested in how they feel. The figures themselves are simplified, flattened almost, and that makes me think of some of the folk art traditions. The way Tamayo is dealing with the picture plane is almost like Gauguin, who was also searching for a way to express something essential about the human condition. It's all about mood, and evocation, not just representation.