Il pescatore e la sirena

Il pescatore e la sirena

Il pescatore e la sirena (The Fisherman and the Mermaid) is the second painting of the series “Uomo e Donna” by Maria Makki. The dominating color scheme is made up of a palette of creamy blues and sea-greens. At the same time, the two subjects, the fisherman and the mermaid, which define the painting's strong composition, are composed of vividly colored shapes and forms. The contrast between these two--the serene blues of the background (including the fisherman's head and the mermaid's tail) and the bright multi-colored bodies—is a critical element not only for its visual power but also for its capacity to convey the intensity of the bond that exists between the fisherman and the mermaid. Outside the window, one can see a violent storm is unleashing its fury and waves are crashing against a sandy shore. Inside the fisherman's modest home, however, the mermaid sleeps peacefully, nestled in the fisherman's arms.

Like Paul Cézanne, who wanted to treat nature by the cylinder, the sphere and the cone, Makki is interested in the simplification of naturally occurring forms to their geometrical essentials. The fisherman's arm, for instance, is represented as a cone split in half.

The different textures created by altering brushstroke techniques is another important element of this piece. The bodies are composed of thin, long brushstrokes of an array of blues, greens, yellows, pinks, and purples and so on, while the background was painted with thick, messy brushstrokes of a limited color palette. The Mermaid's tail, however, has the most unique texture, as it was painted emulating the pointillism technique made famous by the founder of neoimpressionism, George-Pierre Seurat.