Chekhov in the Crimea 1990

Oleg Holosiy painted Chekhov in the Crimea at an unknown date. Look at the way the paint is scrubbed in, the palette is very muted and dark which adds to the contemplative mood. It feels like we’re spying on someone’s private moment. The whole scene is made up of thin washes of paint, there is very little impasto, so the weave of the canvas is very apparent. Patches of bare canvas show through. The paint handling is very loose and gestural. I love the way the figures in the boat are just suggested with a few dabs of white paint. They are almost an apparition, or perhaps figures in Chekhov’s imagination. This reminds me of some of the paintings of Luc Tuymans, in the sense that it's not trying to deliver a clear message, but trying to evoke a mood. Ultimately, the meaning is open to interpretation.