Landscape study 1907

Richard Gerstl made this ‘Landscape study’ with oil on what looks like a small canvas or panel, and it’s all about immediacy. The brushstrokes are laid down like tiles, building up the image from simple marks. There’s a lovely freshness in the application of paint - Gerstl doesn't seem to be fussing over details; he's more interested in capturing the essence of the scene. Look at the sky – those bold, horizontal strokes create a sense of movement and depth, but also feel really solid and present as material on the surface of the painting. Then there's the way he uses these juicy greens and yellows, swirling and mixing them together to suggest foliage and light. It’s really physical, you can almost feel the thickness of the paint and imagine the artist’s hand moving across the canvas. Gerstl’s got the same kind of raw energy as someone like Van Gogh, using paint to express feeling as much as to describe what he sees. There’s a conversation happening here between feeling and looking.