The Village Well

This small painting was inspired by Trindade’s nostalgia for his ancestral home. It depicts a typical vignette of rural existence that together with other portraits such as Preparing for Puja (1923) or scenes such as the Nasik Scenes (1931) add a very interesting documental aspect to the artist’s work. The well is surrounded by lush growth, coconut trees and other foliage associated with tropical Konkan Coast. A warm yellow hue fills this picturesque scene respited by the sumptuous greenery of its surroundings. A woman has come to the well to draw fresh water for her family’s domestic needs: cooking, bathing and drinking. Behind the well and thatched huts and thatch village houses are hidden by a dense forest.
References: Shihandi, Marcella, et al, António Xavier Trindade: An Indian Painter from Portuguese Goa (exhibition catalogue), Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 1996.