The Baku oil fields 1935

Konstantin Bogaevsky made this watercolor painting of the Baku oil fields, and what strikes me is how he's handled the light. The pale blues, sandy yellows, and muddy browns aren't exactly what you'd call a joyful palette, and yet there's this sense of openness in the way he's allowed the colors to bleed and blend. You can sense the landscape as a site of both industry and reflection. I imagine him standing there, brush in hand, trying to capture the scene before him. He's working fast, trying to get down the reflections of those spindly oil rigs. The water is still, mirroring the scene above, doubling the industrial presence. I'm fascinated by how he's managed to find a kind of beauty in this landscape. Like other painters, he’s making something that makes us see the world in a new light. It's about ambiguity, inviting us to bring our own stories and interpretations to the work.