That crazy brother of Theo

Rómulo Macció worked his paintings with a strong gesturality, which in some cases reaches the pictorial monumentality of the figures. In "Aquel hermano loco de Theo" he places—as if in a window or a mirror, both terms used in other works by the artist—the head of Vincent van Gogh painted with black lines over superimposed strokes and scribbles. These lines continue to be sgraffitoed on the upper red band. From the mouth comes a balloon, in the style of comic strips, containing a bust, replicated in a larger size on the left side of the canvas, dominated by blue. It is the representation of Theo. In the lower left corner, it is probably the famous sunflowers, falling apart. The figure does not emerge from chaos, but from an intuitive construction that appeals to another rationality, governed by the interaction of black lines and strokes of pure colors—which lose their purity in the process—with the abrupt termination of space. Macció succeeds in generating a strong structure governed by its own laws.