The Couple is a very captivating black and white piece of work that fully demonstrates Gopal Sanyal's unique ‘architectonic’ structure. Instead of showing a typical love affair Sanyal uses sharp structural and cubist inspired shapes and bold cross hatching to create the forms. Central to the piece are two highly styled faces. The eyes are large round and intense with a traditional Indian folk feel, however they also hold a modern psychological aspect.
The background has been divided up into sections to surround the two human figures with a vibrant selection of animals and plants. There is a clearly defined bird sitting in the top right corner of the picture in what appears to be a dark textured cave. Below it there is a single moon shining down on a bunch of bananas. In the bottom right corner there are basic childish sketches of an elephant, a stick figure of a human and small birds nesting.
The main characters have been drawn with them gripping onto a stem or natural object. Their bodies are very detailed and patterned to look like they are wearing complicated floral outfits or have floral tattoos. Sanyal uses intentional distortion of the human anatomy, influenced greatly by Western modernist artists such as Paul Cézanne to create the piece. He uses the aesthetic of the Bengal School by using dark and bold colours consisting of black ink washes and delicate pen lines to create a mysterious and reflective atmosphere. The patterns are intricate and only focus on the respect and value of normal human relationships.
