Landscape 1970

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this landscape painting with what looks like oil on canvas. He builds up the scene, mark by mark, in small strokes of muted blues, greens, and browns. You can almost feel the movement of his hand as he worked across the canvas, building the image, bit by bit, a testament to how art is always a process. Up close, you really get a sense of the physicality of the paint. It's not super thick, but you can see the individual brushstrokes, like he's sculpting the land with color. Notice how the road seems to disappear into the mist. The paint application here is very gentle, almost like a whisper. The colours melt into one another, dissolving the structure of the forms. The overall effect reminds me of Corot, that soft, dreamy quality, but with a rawness that's all Havrylenko's own. Art isn't about perfection, it's about exploring the endless possibilities of seeing and feeling.