Schmetterlinge
1920
In this vibrant 1920 piece, Italian artist Giuseppe Cominetti dissolves the boundary between humanity and nature. A woman in a straw hat and a child reaching upwards seem to be emerging from—or perhaps getting lost in—a thicket of energetic, scratchy brushstrokes. The title 'Papillons' (Butterflies) hints that the child might be chasing invisible insects, adding a sense of playful movement to the scene. Though Cominetti had ties to the loud, mechanical Futurist movement, this work shows a softer, more lyrical side of Modernism, where the world is a blur of color and light.