Still Life. Capri 1938

Konstantin Gorbatov made this Still Life in Capri, using the alla prima method, where the painting is completed in one sitting while the paint is still wet. This approach really underlines the freshness of the produce. I love the impasto here, the paint applied so thickly you can almost feel the texture of the pumpkin and the cool smoothness of the eggplants. See how he used small, deliberate strokes to build up the colors, mixing them right on the canvas, creating this shimmer? It’s like he’s not just painting the still life, but also the light itself. Notice how the cool blue shadow of the foliage is cast onto the warm yellow wall, and then, lower down, there’s a scattering of cooler hues like the greens of the limes? For me it’s all about a conversation between hot and cold. He reminds me of someone like Bonnard, who was also using colour to explore the boundary between what we see and what we feel. It’s a dance of observation, a play of seeing.