Memories of a Night 1911

Luigi Russolo’s painting evokes the essence of a night with its dominant blues and yellows. Imagine Russolo, possibly working late, trying to recall the essence of a particular evening and what it meant to him, and applying brushstroke after brushstroke to the canvas to capture something from his past. I sympathize with the artist when I look at this work. The canvas is teeming with movement. The brushstrokes carry such intention, like the artist is trying to remember everything all at once. There’s something really special about the way that Russolo used his strokes to blend reality and imagination. You can see it in the way he painted the horse. I think painting offers a special way of seeing and thinking about the world. It’s embodied expression. Painters are constantly building upon the work of those who came before. We are all in conversation. I love how Russolo embraces ambiguity, leaving so much open for interpretation.