Water-Lilies 1979

Endre Bartos made this painting of water lilies with oil paint, but when? Who knows? It’s the way he applies the paint that really grabs me, thick slabs of green laid on with such energy, like he’s wrestling with the canvas. You can almost feel the weight of the paint, the resistance as he pushes it around. The texture is incredible, right? See how the light catches the raised edges of each stroke. It makes the whole surface shimmer, like sunlight on water. I keep looking at the bottom left corner where the green bleeds into the blue, and there’s this little flick of red, barely visible, but it just makes the whole thing sing. For me, that’s the joy of painting, those unexpected moments where something magical happens. This feels like a cousin of Van Gogh, maybe, but with its own particular accent, its own way of seeing the world. Painting is just like a conversation, everyone is chiming in, building on what came before. And like all good conversations, it’s the little detours and surprises that make it worthwhile.