Montecalvello 1979

Balthus made this landscape painting, Montecalvello, with a kind of muted intensity, like he’s trying to remember a place he can almost see. Look at those whites in the foreground, they feel solid, carved somehow, yet also soft. Balthus is pushing paint around, feeling his way across the canvas. There are some wonderful muted tones happening, lots of grays, greens, and browns all mixed, but somehow separate. And the texture! See how the paint seems almost dry-brushed in sections, giving the surface a crumbly, tactile quality. Then, in the distance, that little road just disappears as it winds between the fields. It seems to suggest a dreamlike, elusive quality to the entire scene. It reminds me of Piero della Francesca, that sense of stillness and slightly strange geometry. But it also feels very personal, like Balthus is inviting us into his own private world, a world that's both familiar and utterly mysterious.