Expanse. Crimea 1908

This landscape of Crimea is by Arkhyp Kuindzhi, who worked in the 19th Century using oil on canvas, like me. You can almost feel the air and light, right? Looking at this painting, I imagine Kuindzhi layering thin washes of paint, building up this atmosphere bit by bit. I bet he was trying to capture something fleeting. It feels like a memory of a place, or maybe a dream? I think maybe he was wrestling with something similar to what I also struggle with when I’m painting: how do you make something solid out of something ephemeral? The way he uses light here is amazing. See how it's not just about representation, but also about feeling? He's in conversation with Turner and others about that moment when the sky becomes everything. And it’s a conversation that continues today, with other artists and with you too, when you look at a painting like this. We learn from each other.