Kastanje 1922

Henri Braakensiek made this piece, called Kastanje, in 1922. It's difficult to describe the medium exactly, but the colour is amazing. The blue in this image almost has a life of its own. It's like it was applied, and then reapplied, in layers to create this sense of depth. If you look closer, you can see the individual marks that make up the leaves and the flower. There’s a kind of looseness to the way the marks have been laid down. It makes you think about artmaking as a process, not just an end result. The surface has a kind of bloom. I'm reminded a little of Emil Nolde and the way he uses colour to evoke emotion. Both artists seem to understand that colour isn't just a way to represent something, but that it can be a powerful force in and of itself.