Venice 1915

Aleksandra Ekster made this painting, Venice, without telling us exactly when, in oil. The canvas is divided into these geometric shards of Venice, like broken mirrors reflecting water. I can imagine Ekster layering shapes in the studio, moving these planes of red, white, and blue around until they snapped into focus. It's a fractured landscape, with sharp angles and bold colors that somehow still convey the dreamy atmosphere of Venice. Those little red and white striped awnings are so cute! Ekster had that early 20th century urge to distill a place down to its essence, kind of like a visual algorithm, so she wasn't interested in literal representation, and instead she wanted to present what she felt it was like to be in Venice. It's like she grabbed the city, shook it up, and then reassembled it into a new kind of visual poetry. And you can feel a bit of that same spirit in the work of other painters of her era.