Two nudes (lovers), Oskar Kokoschka, 1913

Oil on canvas. This photo really doesn’t do it justice. Go see it at the MFA in Boston:)

Sorry about the blur! The info behind it is actually really interesting.

Standing this close, I can see every individual brushstroke. The top-most layer of paint still looks wet, splotchy and thick in places with the most color. The image shows a couple embracing– standing and holding each other as if they were practicing the tango naked. Their bodies are rough streaks of different shades of purple, the whole image a kind of group of these streaks that makes the picture seem blurry as if I was staring at it without my contacts. She holds his head delicately with her blue and purple fingers, but they both seem to be looking out of the frame, almost making an X of eye contact as their planes of vision cross each other and past us, the viewer. The matching greens and blues of their surroundings puts them in a jungle, or an ever-fertile make believe place, where the colors are much brighter and the details are much less important.

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