Berkeley 1955

Richard Diebenkorn made this oil painting, Berkeley, with a casual-but-sophisticated color palette. The process here seems to be one of building up layers, adding and subtracting, in an exploration of color and form. I really get into the surface of this painting. It's not about hiding the process, but rather revealing it. The paint is applied with visible brushstrokes, some thick and textured, others thin and translucent, creating a dynamic surface. Those marks, those gestures, are the thing. I’m drawn to the earthy tones in the middle ground, the muted greens and reds, playing off against the cool blues and grays of the sky and land. This kind of conversation, the dialogue of color, shapes how we feel when we look at it. Diebenkorn always makes me think of Matisse, how they both use color as a way to create space and light. And like Matisse, Diebenkorn invites us to get lost in the painting, to find our own way through its many layers of meaning. It’s a real experience.