Boy on a Grass 1910

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky gave us this dreamy painting of a 'Boy on Grass', it's hard to put a date on it, but look at the way he’s dabbed and swirled the paint. It's all about the surface here, a shimmering world built from little touches of color. The grass is a riot of greens, mixed with blues and yellows, not like any real lawn. It is a process in action, an ongoing dance between what we see and how we feel. Look at the boy's pink shirt – that’s a color that sings against the greens! And see how the artist uses little touches of paint to create the shadows and folds, it’s like he’s building up the form from nothing. It reminds me of the early Impressionists, but with a folksy, Russian twist. Bogdanov-Belsky isn't trying to copy reality, he's making something new, a memory of a summer day, alive with the buzz of insects and the scent of wildflowers. Art isn't about answers, it's about the questions it makes us ask.