In Vegetable Garden 1901

Oleksa Novakivskyi made this painting, *In Vegetable Garden*, with oil on cardboard, and looking at it, I can almost feel him at work. I see short brushstrokes of muted greens and earthy browns, punctuated by little pops of orange. It’s as if he’s right there, in the thick of the garden, capturing not just what he sees, but what it feels like to be there. I bet he was squinting in the sunlight! Look how the paint is layered, thick in some places, thin in others. I wonder if he reworked certain areas, wiping away and building up again. I see a figure in the foreground wearing a striped skirt. She is cropped and the image feels like it may continue beyond the frame. Painters like Novakivskyi remind me that art isn't just about representation, but about feeling. It's about the physical act of applying paint, and how that act can communicate so much, and keep us all in conversation.