Still Life. Samovar. 1913

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this still life, Samovar, using pencil on paper. The lines jump off the page, don't they? See how they create a dynamic, almost chaotic, energy. It's like he's wrestling with the shapes, trying to pin them down but also letting them breathe. The table legs, drawn with those insistent parallel lines, feel both solid and totally unstable. And that samovar – it’s not just sitting there; it’s got this bold, declarative presence. The pencil work is so immediate, so raw. You can almost feel his hand moving across the paper, deciding and then changing his mind. It reminds me a little of Picasso. This piece feels like a conversation, an argument even. It’s like he's saying, "Here’s what I see, but also, here’s how I see it changing, shifting, always in motion." It’s a reminder that seeing isn’t passive; it’s an active, messy, and beautifully unresolved process.