Study for ‘Winter No. II’ 1911

Wassily Kandinsky made this ‘Study for Winter No. II’ with oil paint, and it's like he's feeling his way through the landscape. The surface is alive with marks. Look at the way he drags the brush to give the impression of snow-laden rooftops, and that juicy dollop of bright blue paint that suggests a break in the clouds. Kandinsky isn't trying to trick us into seeing something real, but he’s trying to capture something felt. It's about how the world hits you – the chill, the colours, the shapes. Notice the thinness of the paint. It's almost like watercolor in places, letting the ground peek through and creating a feeling of light. It's not overworked. It's immediate. This reminds me of the landscapes of Marsden Hartley, another painter who was chasing the emotional impact of a scene, rather than just its surface appearance. Art, it’s an ongoing conversation about how we see, feel, and try to pin down the fleeting, gorgeous mess of experience.