Still Life 1913

Diego Rivera made this still life with oil on canvas sometime in the early twentieth century. Look at how he builds the scene with color. You get the feeling that painting, for Rivera, was like building, arranging, and playing with blocks. The brushwork is so present in this piece. The way he layers the paint, it’s almost like you can feel the texture of the objects. Take the clay pot for instance, notice the earthiness of the material, and how Rivera captures the way light bounces off its surface. He uses the same technique in the fruit bowl, which also has a sense of weight and presence. Rivera’s interest in form is evident in his later murals, where he explores similar themes of texture, volume and space on a grander scale. It reminds me a little of Braque or Picasso. Ultimately, it is about how we see, and how we interpret the world around us. It's a constant question, a back and forth.