Kaunas. Cathedral. 1931

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky made this painting, Kaunas Cathedral, with oil on cardboard, and what strikes me is its tentative and slightly melancholic feel, as if he is trying to capture a memory. The paint is applied thinly in layers, almost like a wash, which gives it this luminous quality, especially in the sky. I love the way the red of the cathedral sort of bleeds into the grey of the sky – a beautiful soft contrast. The fence in the foreground is built up of many vertical marks, a very physical way of building space. There are all these layers, the fence, then the houses, the cathedral, and then another cathedral in the background. The work puts me in mind of some of the early modernist painters, like Utrillo, who seemed to find beauty in these kinds of everyday scenes. It's like Dobuzhinsky is finding something precious in what others might overlook. There’s a real generosity in that.