Dunka's Grove. In the estate of Polenovs 1909

Boris Kustodiev made this oil painting on canvas, called 'Dunka's Grove', at the Polenovs' estate. Look at those greens! It's a symphony of greens, moving from light to dark, like a slow, deep breath. I can imagine Kustodiev standing there, squinting, trying to capture the way the light filters through the leaves. Painting, for me, is like wrestling with the world, trying to pin down a feeling or an idea. I wonder if Kustodiev felt that too? Did he struggle with the way the trees seemed to shift and change as he worked? I am drawn to the fence in the foreground, its blue contrasting with the greens. A lot of landscape painters use a fence or a road, something familiar that leads you into the unknown. It's an invitation, a path into the artist's vision, which in this case, is a grove of lush trees. It reminds me that artists are always building on what came before, finding their own way of seeing the world.