Volvo Masters 1983

This is LeRoy Neiman’s 'Volvo Masters', and the way it's painted, well, it's like he's right there in the middle of all the action. Neiman really goes for it with color, layering these intense strokes that don’t blend so much as vibrate next to each other. Look at the crowd – it’s just dabs of pink, yellow, and blue, somehow suggesting a stadium packed with faces. The way the court is rendered in broad strokes of green and the figure of the tennis player is caught mid-serve, it feels like an immediate, kind of ecstatic response to the game. It’s like he's channeling something, not just painting what he sees, but feeling the energy of the match itself. This makes me think of Joan Mitchell, who had a similar gift for capturing movement and feeling in paint. They both remind us that painting isn’t just about showing something, it's about sharing an experience. And the experience is always open to interpretation, isn't it?