Jericho 1935

Konstantin Gorbatov painted Jericho in oil with thick brushstrokes in shades of yellow and brown, imagining the walls of the ancient city as a honey-toned, almost edible mirage. I can only imagine how the artist layered the paint, trying to capture the late afternoon sun illuminating the city and surrounding desert. I bet that Gorbatov stood in front of the easel with focused energy, working the surface of the painting to find the correct tonality. Did he keep repainting sections, wiping back areas to begin again, to make the overall composition vibrate with light? There is an element of uncertainty, but the soft, warm tones are soothing, and the artist has created a place in which you want to linger. Like the Post-Impressionists, he’s pushing you to consider painting as an exchange of ideas across time. The best painting is an embodied form of expression, allowing for multiple readings.