The green dress 1913

Albert Bloch made "The green dress" with what looks like oil paint, in colours that push and pull. I’m thinking about Albert, dabbing at the canvas, trying to get the exact green of that dress. It's not just one green, is it? There's layers, almost like he's building up the color from the inside. And the way the light hits it, makes you want to reach out and touch it. That thick impasto, feels like he’s wrestling with the paint, trying to make it do what he wants, but also letting it have its own say. Look at the way he’s built up that dark, fur collar. There's a real physicality to it, a sense of movement frozen in time. It makes you think of other painters, like Kirchner or Heckel, trying to capture the energy of modern life, even though it's a little creepy. Ultimately, it’s about Albert, you and me, and all the painters who came before and will come after, all of us talking to each other across time, trying to figure out what it means to be human, one brushstroke at a time.