At the Ilmen lake 1928

Konchalovsky made "At the Ilmen Lake," with oil on canvas and I like to imagine him really going at it, throwing himself into the work. The materiality of this piece is really what speaks to me. Look at how the paint is applied—thick in some areas, thin in others, almost like he’s sculpting the scene. The texture of the waves, for instance, is so palpable you can almost feel the boat rocking. Then, there’s the color palette, muted and earthy, which gives the whole scene a sense of gravitas. My eye keeps getting drawn back to the way the woman is rendered, with her orange top, it's so interesting how he used that color to balance the composition, it's like a spark of warmth amidst all that gray and brown. Maybe Konchalovsky was looking at somebody like Emil Nolde, another artist who wasn't afraid to use color in unexpected ways. Ultimately, this is a painting that rewards close looking, a meditation on the beauty and harshness of life by the water.