Genesis #2 1934

Lorser Feitelson made this painting, Genesis #2, layering up colours and images that give a still life an incredible charge. You can feel him thinking. He seems to be asking the canvas: how can objects be arranged so that they pulse with meaning? What’s so great about this painting is that it is not only a collection of things – a halved melon, a light bulb – but it’s also a collection of moods. I can see a real painter at work here. Look at how the artist has built up the surface through washes of color and bold gestures. A ghostly figure sits framed like a tarot card, in contrast to the dark, brooding energy of the rest of the scene. The simple act of painting becomes a philosophical act, a meditation on the creation of form and meaning out of chaos. This dialogue across time—between painters, between ourselves, and between the artwork—is where painting comes alive.