The Walk 1960

Roland Petersen made "The Walk" with a playful palette of light blues, yellows, and reds, laid down in visible marks. I imagine Petersen wrestling with the canvas, trying to resolve the scene, maybe a figure caught in transit between the foreground and the background. I can see the artist building up layers and then scraping them back, revealing underlying colors and textures. It’s like a dance between control and accident, where each gesture leaves its trace. There's a thick impasto that gives the painting a sculptural quality, almost like relief. Looking at the upper part of the figure, I wonder if Petersen was thinking about the legacy of painters like Bonnard, or even Milton Avery, and their use of color to evoke atmosphere and mood. Petersen makes visible his working process, and his conversation with other artists. Ultimately, this kind of painting invites us to slow down, to really look, and to appreciate the many ways in which paint can communicate feeling, memory, and experience. It’s less about seeing what the artist saw, and more about feeling what the artist felt.