Still Life. Grenades. 1954

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this still life with paint, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. The painting’s got these reds and yellows, punctuated by greens, tumbling on the surface. I can imagine Konchalovsky, brush in hand, tilting the pomegranates and pears just so, trying to capture the way light bounces off their skins. The painting feels generous, like a shared meal. The fruit looks ripe and ready to burst, the wine a deep, inviting red. There’s a touch of Cézanne in the way he simplifies the forms, but with a Russian intensity all his own, and maybe a little bit of Matisse too. Painting is a conversation, right? Each artist riffing on those who came before, adding their own spin, pushing things a little further. And here it is - Konchalovsky’s voice: a celebration of life. What a gift.