oil, canvas, 120 × 150 cm (diptych)

purchased in 2023

These paintings are a free association of propagandistic images from period print media, which became one of Pavel Šmíd’s key sources of inspiration. They do not aim to document or illustrate, but rather to capture the essence of a theme in its most elementary form. Young girls in white dresses, adorned with floral wreaths, fragile, innocent, and trembling in the moment of their First Holy Communion, are confronted with a radically different ritual—the Nazi salute. The colorful composition becomes an impenetrable cipher. The ambiguity of the figures, vivid use of color, and vitalistic gesture, as well as the direct relation to human behavior—recognized only gradually by the viewer—create a brutal impact of shocking absurdity. These works are a striking example of the artist’s practice in which he reflects on 20th-century life with its imagined rituals and grand illusions.

Translation created with the assistance of AI (ChatGPT).