Yard. Board 1930

Aleksandr Deyneka made this painting, Yard. Board with oil paint, likely outdoors, where he could feel the breeze. Just look at how the paint is layered, thick in some places, thin in others, like he’s building up the scene, one brushstroke at a time. I can imagine him standing there, squinting in the sun, trying to capture the way the light hits the clothes hanging on the line. Those pinks and oranges in the fabric—they’re so alive! And the way he’s used blues and purples for the shadows, it’s like he’s not just painting what he sees, but what he feels. I think, "What does it mean to share an ordinary scene with someone, like the artist is offering a slice of his life for us to think about?". Deyneka is in conversation with the modernists and impressionists before him but makes it his own. He is looking for what he thinks is important about painting. It’s like the conversation between artists never really ends, each one adding their own voice to the mix.