Novgorod. Anthony the Roman. 1925

Pyotr Konchalovsky captured the Church of St. Anthony of Rome with oil on canvas, in a flurry of visible brushstrokes. Imagine standing where Konchalovsky stood, squinting at the building. The domes are rendered with a casualness that belies their form. Notice the greens and whites of the buildings. The artist might have mixed these colors right on the canvas. The brushwork is chunky, raw. You can see how each stroke contributes to the overall texture and structure of the building. I imagine Konchalovsky, his head full of Impressionist techniques, thinking about light and color in a new way, influenced by the work of artists like Cézanne. It’s like he’s building the church, stroke by stroke, searching for that perfect balance. It's not about perfect realism but the feeling of a place. Artists are always building on what came before, experimenting, pushing the boundaries of what paint can do. And that’s the conversation we’re all a part of, figuring out how to see and feel the world, and then how to show it.