Murnau 1910

Alexej von Jawlensky made this painting, Murnau, with what looks like oil paint on canvas, and right away, you can see how the colours are laid down in these juicy, deliberate strokes. It's like he's building the landscape, brick by brick, with colour. Look closely, and you'll notice how the dark, imposing mountain isn't just black or brown, but a deep, pulsating blue, and how that electric blue creeps into everything else. The little pink clouds floating above feel like a direct response, a colour conversation with the mountain itself. There's an amazing push-pull between representation and abstraction, those houses down below are clearly houses, but they're also just blocks of colour, relating to the green field above them. Jawlensky reminds me a little of Milton Avery, in his use of simplified forms and bold colour, but he's also got this almost spiritual intensity all of his own. You get the feeling he's not just painting what he sees, but what he feels.