Adagio

Adagio

145×145 cm, oil on canvas, 2007, private collection South Australia

I worked for a month at this portrait, the longest I have ever worked on any painting. I kept changing the colors in the hair to match the face. I achieved the expression from the beginning, but the problem was the resemblance with the subject on such a large size painting, when my studio wasn’t too large and didn’t allow to see this from the distance. The portrait was very successful, it was sold even before the opening. So many people asked about it, and because it was gone they bought the other portrait I had in the exhibition… twice! That’s right, the other painting, “Capriccio” was sold twice by mistake. Imagine the disappointment of the young couple who found out the second day they payed for a painting which had been sold already. I succeeded in convincing these people that I can manage to do the painting again. If it was “Adagio” I would have never attempted. But it looked much easier to do Capriccio. Doing a portrait twice is tricky, and I was sure very happy when it was finished.

Adagio belongs to the following groups: