Ana Barbic Katicic

In Hypnotic Clouds, Ana Barbić Katičić captures the magic of a picturesque evening where the light refracts into dramatic shades of violet and pink. The work is dominated by an almost hypnotic intensity of color that immediately transports the viewer into the atmosphere of a summer evening by the sea. While the upper half of the painting is defined by heavy, color-rich cloud formations, the remaining daylight is reflected in soft pastel tones upon the surface of the water. It is that special moment of twilight, when the air is still warm and the sky displays its most spectacular colors.

Stylistically, the painting can be classified as abstract impressionism. Katičić avoids photorealistic representation and instead focuses on making the sense of vastness and atmospheric density tangible, with the physical world receding in favor of a pure composition of light and color. In the lower third, a dark horizontal line hints at the coast or the horizon, providing the image with a solid structure and grounding despite the abstract masses of clouds.

Technically masterful, the artist combines fine glazes with a striking squeegee technique in this work. While the sky gains enormous luminosity through superimposed, thin layers of paint, the sea surface and the horizon line were created by forcefully dragging the paint with a squeegee or palette knife. This layering creates a haptic texture that perfectly contrasts the shimmering of the water with the rugged structures of the coast. Hypnotic Clouds captures that specific moment known from holidays, when one cannot turn their gaze away from the horizon – a work that immediately awakens a longing for the next evening by the sea.