Manantial 

José Garnelo's "Manantial" is a painting, and like all paintings, it is essentially about the manipulation of a material: pigment. Notice how Garnelo has exploited oil paint to capture the scene’s earthy tones and fluid motion. He coaxes the material to conjure rocky textures and the cool rush of the water. Oil paint enabled artists like Garnelo to blend colors seamlessly, build up layers of detail, and achieve a luminosity mimicking natural light. This was a far cry from the tempera paint used by earlier artists, which dried quickly, making it difficult to rework or blend. The advent of oil paint changed the landscape of image-making, as paintings could now be produced in large volumes. They became commercial commodities in their own right, reaching a broader audience than ever before. So next time you look at a painting, remember it's not just about what's depicted, but also about the materiality that brought it into being. This challenges traditional notions of artistic skill, inviting us to consider the social and economic forces shaping artistic creation.