Pastoral Scene c. 1920

Heinrich Campendonk made this 'Pastoral Scene' with oil on canvas, and looking at it, I immediately get a sense of artmaking as a process of layering, of building up an image bit by bit. The colors are so evocative. The greens and blues give it this dreamy, otherworldly feel, but then you have these pops of red that jolt you back to reality. It's like Campendonk is playing with our emotions, pulling us in different directions. I particularly love the way the paint is applied. It's thin and transparent in some areas, allowing the canvas to peek through, but then it's thick and opaque in others, creating this tactile, almost sculptural quality. It reminds me a bit of Marc Chagall, especially in the way he blends figures and landscapes into these fantastical scenes. But Campendonk has his own unique voice, a kind of raw, untamed energy that I find incredibly compelling. For me, art is about embracing ambiguity and finding beauty in the unexpected.