Pharmacists (1964)

Miklós Somos attended the Academy of Fine Arts between 1951-1957, where his teacher was Géza Fónyi. He participated in national exhibitions from the mid-fifties. His individual style, which Géza Perneczky called lyrical realism, was related to constructivist painting and developed in the early 1960s. His suggestive paintings are characterised by a strong plasticity in relief, a tight structure, closed simplified forms and a reduced use of colour. In his works, landscapes, nudes and portraits, he goes beyond the specific features of reality. His paintings can be compared to those of Jenő Barcsay, Endre Domanovszky and Béla Kondor. In 1963 he also made ceramic paintings in Hódmezővásárhely. In the early seventies his painting was renewed. Instead of gloomy scenes, he painted cubo-surrealistic spaces and still lifes with a colourful palette, and by the 1980s his works had become even more relaxed. 

In the first half of the 1960s, Somos often captured different types of work and working people, from the two-armed labourer to the white collar worker and the artist. Here, Somos gives us an insight into the world of women in intellectual and research jobs. Miklós Losonczi wrote the following about the Pharmacists (original title: The Female lab technicians) oil painting: "An aesthetic dialogue of dark and light spots in geometric forms. He seeks the relationship between objects and models. He objectifies the "Female lab technicians", he inspires the objects, broken jars, sterile glass bottles and the pensive women in white coats form a unity".