Landscape Perceived 1963

"Landscape Perceived" is a painting by Abdul Mati Klarwein, and it’s like stepping into a world built from pure texture. The earth tones dominate, but it’s how they’re layered that grabs me; you can almost feel the grit of the soil, the roughness of the stone. Look closely, and you'll see how Klarwein builds up the surface, using tiny brushstrokes, creating a tactile landscape, not just a visual one. There’s a spot, just to the left of the centre, where the rock seems to split open, revealing layers of sediment. It’s rendered with such care. It makes you wonder about time, about the earth slowly revealing its secrets. Klarwein seems to be in conversation with artists like Max Ernst, who sought to create surreal and dreamlike landscapes that blurred the lines between reality and imagination. Both artists invite us to see the world not just as it is, but as it could be, full of mystery and possibility. It is about art’s ability to embrace ambiguity.