The blind man 1942

Albert Bloch made this painting called 'The Blind Man' with oil paint. The colors are like looking through fog, browns and greys that build up a sense of the forest, so we can sense the trees, the branches, and the man at the painting’s center. If you look closely, you can see how the paint is applied, it is not smoothed or blended, but instead laid down in brushstrokes, almost like marks. They become the details, the light catching on the trunks, the texture of the earth. My eye keeps going to the rocks at the front, they ground the whole painting, while also giving a kind of barrier. For me, this painting shares something with Marsden Hartley's landscapes - a kind of inner-searching in nature. It's a reminder that art isn't just about perfect representation, but about finding new ways to see and feel the world, even if it's a bit mysterious and open to interpretation.