Along the shore (January 1939) 1939

Romualdo Locatelli made this painting, Along the shore, in January 1939, probably using oils on canvas. I love the open brushwork, how the paint is laid down in strokes and dabs. Nothing is laboured, it's all about the gesture and the process, like a dance. The colours are muted – greens and browns – but there’s a luminosity too. I see it in the way the light reflects off the water and the figures in the boats. It’s not about photorealism. Look at the surface texture! Locatelli is laying it on thick, capturing the rough and weathered surfaces of the boats. There is a kind of broken mark making, that seems to allow for accidents and adjustments, like the painting is being discovered as it’s being made. I can't help but think of Winslow Homer, with his seascapes, but Locatelli’s approach feels more raw, more immediate. It reminds me that art is never really finished. It’s just abandoned.