![1913, Alexej von Jawlensky, Byzantinerin [Byzantine (Pale Lips)] -- Pompidou Center (Paris) | by R.M.Lenox](http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48674036007_408c7050df.jpg)
1913, Alexej von Jawlensky, Byzantinerin [Byzantine (Pale Lips)] -- Pompidou Center (Paris)
From the museum label: "Large figures in powerful, incandescent and not at all naturalistic colours [...] spring from an internal ecstasy with frightening power." (Jawlensky)
From 1907 onward, Alexej von Jawlensky painted many portraits, in which the forms were simplified, the colours "strong and ardent", the proportions and contours exaggerated. Sacrificing resemblance for the sake of artistic power, the artist achieved a mystical presence similar to the icon. Initially close to the Nabi group, Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh, he evolved toward an audacious synthesis that would almost lead him to abstraction in the 1920s.
1913, Alexej von Jawlensky, Byzantinerin [Byzantine (Pale Lips)] -- Pompidou Center (Paris)
From the museum label: "Large figures in powerful, incandescent and not at all naturalistic colours [...] spring from an internal ecstasy with frightening power." (Jawlensky)
From 1907 onward, Alexej von Jawlensky painted many portraits, in which the forms were simplified, the colours "strong and ardent", the proportions and contours exaggerated. Sacrificing resemblance for the sake of artistic power, the artist achieved a mystical presence similar to the icon. Initially close to the Nabi group, Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh, he evolved toward an audacious synthesis that would almost lead him to abstraction in the 1920s.