Autunno (Autumn) 1992

Giancarlo Tognoni made this watercolour, Autunno, which means Autumn in Italian, with delicate washes of pigment and a light touch. I imagine the painting coming into being in layers, with the artist's intuition guiding each brushstroke. I can almost feel the artist's breath on the paper, coaxing these forms into being. What could Tognoni have been thinking? Was he perhaps reflecting on the abundance of the harvest season and its more melancholy tones? Those colours are like a symphony of yellows, greens and purples, like he squeezed Autumn itself onto the page. I love the loose gesture where he suggests the grapes, almost like a rhythmic dance. It reminds me of Morandi's still life paintings, only here, Tognoni is even more playful. These artists are always in conversation, influencing each other across time. Painting, like life, embraces ambiguity. We don't need to know what it is to feel its meaning.