Tessiner Häuser I 1928

Christian Rohlfs made this painting of houses in watercolor, probably in the first half of the 20th century. The painting feels provisional, as if it’s on the verge of dissolving, built up with rapid, searching strokes of blue and brown, flicked, layered, and allowed to drip. You can imagine him outdoors, in front of the subject, squinting in the sunlight, quickly capturing the motif. I feel for him, battling with the fleeting moment. The blue is so dominant it threatens to overwhelm the ochre of the houses. There’s a tension, a struggle, which makes the painting so alive! Painters are always in conversation. I’m reminded of Cézanne's watercolors, where he’s also trying to pin down the motif in front of him. Like Rohlfs, he embraced imperfection, knowing that's where the real juice is. For me, painting is always a site of inquiry. It's through acts like these that artists keep the conversation going, pushing the medium and us to see things anew.