Winter. Thaw. Pskov 1910

Konstantin Gorbatov conjured this winter townscape of Pskov with oil on canvas, and you can just imagine him there with his brushes, carefully building up the layers. It looks like the kind of day where the light is playing tricks on you. There’s this tension between the cold, muted tones of the snow and the way pops of colour try to push through – those optimistic reds and yellows of the houses, like stubborn little flames. I bet the snow felt thick and heavy. The way he’s daubed the snow on the rooftops makes you feel the weight of it. I wonder if Gorbatov was thinking about Impressionism when he made this? It's like he's trying to catch a fleeting moment, the feeling of a thaw just beginning, and the world slowly waking up. You can imagine him chatting with someone like Pissarro, sharing ideas about how to capture light and atmosphere. Artists are always riffing off each other, aren’t they? It’s this never-ending conversation across time. And it makes this painting feel so alive, like it’s still figuring itself out, even now.