Ignite your imagination with "Karija with the black cat"

In 1907, the nineteen-year-old Ģederts Eliass (1918–1919) radically changed his life. He left Latvia as a militant of the Social Democratic Workers' Party.

Having arrived at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, he came back as one of the most brilliant followers of Fauvism.

At the time, his main means of expression were a bright, contrasting colour scheme and energetic brushstroke.

This painting too is built from bright fields of pure colour with rather thick, dark outlines, paying no attention to fine details.

The painting shows the artist's girlfriend Karija Kriņģele, whom he knew since school.

The young woman is depicted in a fairly robust manner with lightly deformed proportions and no direct visual likeness.

Her yellow dress contrasts with the room's bright red wall and the flowery drapery of the curtain

The black cat with its unnaturally green eyes is so captivating that even if it was not there it would have had to be invented.