Still life with flowers by Tóth Menyhért (1904-1980), oil on paper, private collection
In Tóth Menyhért’s paintings, flowers are never just flowers. Examining the picture carefully, you may discover faces, animals, a female body, and a whole fantastic universe of organic forms melting into each other.
“He depicts living creatures and inanimate objects in organic unity with one another, thus signaling not only a unified zest for life, but also a sense of fear and drama. His so-called “white” period is a synthesis of his entire life work, a sort of reform of painting itself. His lines become less and less expressive, serving merely indicative purposes, and move more and more towards a single white color. From the 1960’s onwards he primed the majority of his paintings white, onto which motifs of pink, ocher, and broken gray were added.”
