Stilleben mit Tasse c. 1908

Alexej von Jawlensky made this still life with a teacup sometime in his life. It's pretty great! There's a lot of deep, saturated colour happening here. The brushstrokes are bold, almost like he’s sculpting with paint. Looking at how the colours are laid down – that pulsing pink, the intense orange, and the fresh greens – I can imagine him, with a heavily loaded brush, pushing and pulling the paint across the surface, each stroke deliberate, yet full of feeling. That blue cup feels kind of luminous, like it’s radiating light. Jawlensky’s got this incredible knack for making the ordinary feel extraordinary. I think of other painters like Matisse, who also found endless inspiration in everyday objects. It makes you wonder about the conversations artists have across time, influencing and inspiring each other. Painting is a beautiful, messy, ongoing experiment!