This market scene marks the ultimate in the evolution of Sobrat towards an analytical kind of representation. The artist seems to be fully appropriating space and bodily anatomy. The influence of the Dutch artist Rudolf Bonnet is clear. Rudolf Bonnet lived in Ubud, Bali from 1929-1958.

History of the Object

Sobrat was the son of an aristocratic family from the town of Padangtegal in Ubud. He learned to make shadow puppets from his grandfather. This became the basis for his skillful depiction of the Rāmāyana and Mahabharata in his early paintings. He met Walter Spies at the end of 1920s. Spies was a German artist who together with Rudolf Bonnet was thought to be the agent of change for the modernization of Balinese art. Sobrat worked and lived with Spies for a year. Spies' influence can be seen in his early works, particularly those with split or double horizons. He learned western style painting from Spies and Rudolf Bonnet.