Vendemmiatrici 1951

Felice Casorati painted these grape harvesters, Vendemmiatrici, without telling us exactly when or with what, though it's clear there's oil paint involved. Look how he just lets the marks sit there, chunky and present, like a record of each dab and decision. I'm drawn to the way Casorati builds the surface, kinda rough, kinda dreamy. The blue figures stand out against the vineyard, all heavy with purpleness. He’s not trying to trick us into thinking this is real, but the colour palette is so restrained that it creates something otherworldly. Note how he used the small detail of the orange headscarf to draw our eyes to the figure on the right. It reminds me a bit of Guston, in the way the colours are all muddied. There's a conversation happening here, a back-and-forth across time and place. You know? And that’s the beauty of art, it's always talking to itself.