Sunset in the steppes by the sea 1908

Arkhyp Kuindzhi painted this "Sunset in the steppes by the sea" sometime in the 19th century. Just look at the way he’s handled the paint; it’s like he's wrestling with the sunset itself. The texture here is really something. There's a roughness to it, especially in the foreground, that makes the sky feel so much smoother in comparison. And that sun, like a molten coin dropped into the horizon, reflecting on the water! You can almost feel the heat radiating off of it. Kuindzhi wasn't trying to trick you into believing this was a window. It’s paint, thick and thin in places, dragged and layered to capture not just the look, but the feeling of that moment. It reminds me a little of Turner, maybe, but with a Slavic soul. Like Turner, he’s after something bigger than just a landscape. He's chasing an emotion, a memory, a fleeting, fiery moment.