Ukrainian landscape 1925

Boris Kustodiev painted this Ukrainian landscape with what looks like oil on canvas, and the way he's used colour here is really interesting. It's not exactly naturalistic, but it's not trying to be abstract either - it's somewhere in between, which I think is a cool place to be as an artist. If you look closely, you can see how the paint has been applied in layers, almost like he was building up the image bit by bit. The texture is quite visible, especially in the haystacks, which are these big, chunky blobs of yellow and brown. You can almost feel the roughness of the hay. Then there are these tall, thin trees that are rendered really differently - the colour feels so rich in contrast to the lightness of the hay. This painting reminds me a little of some of the French Impressionists, like Pissarro, who were also interested in capturing fleeting moments in nature. But Kustodiev has his own unique style, a little less concerned with capturing a perfect likeness. It's the imperfect bits that really make the painting sing.