Landscape. Illustrations to Sergey Yesenin's collection of poems 'Bird-cherry tree' 1970

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this landscape as an illustration to Sergey Yesenin's poems, and it feels like a love letter to the process of artmaking. The colors are muted, almost like a faded memory, with soft blues, greens, and peachy oranges blending together. Up close, you can see the texture of the paper and the gentle strokes that define the trees and the sky. The paint is thin, allowing the surface to breathe, and it’s clear that Havrylenko wasn't trying to hide his process. In fact, the way he’s built up the layers of color feels almost like a conversation, with each stroke responding to the last. Notice the way he’s rendered the moon as just the faintest crescent, as if the image were drawn from a dream. This landscape reminds me a little of Milton Avery's work, in the way it distills a scene down to its essential elements. And, like Avery, Havrylenko seems to be suggesting that art isn't about capturing reality, but about creating something new that reflects the way we see and feel the world.