Truth 1905

Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis made this painting, Truth, with soft muted colours like blues and purples. The light is the focus here and has a very different energy than the darkness surrounding it. I imagine Ciurlionis working on this painting, figuring it out as he went, using the paint to find his way. He’s in dialogue with the painting itself. It’s a conversation between him and the canvas, a back-and-forth of ideas, feelings, and intuitions. The hands in the painting are very strange. What do they mean? They look like they’re reaching towards the light, trying to grasp it. Are they real hands or spirit hands? The way he's layered the paint, and the way that light seems to be pushing through, almost feels like a Turner painting, but with this added layer of mysticism. What's so beautiful about painting, what I love, is how it’s this ongoing conversation across time. We’re all just trying to figure it out, one brushstroke at a time.