Pamestā zeme. 1969

Guntis Strupulis made this evocative painting, Pamestā zeme, using oil on canvas. There’s a palpable feeling of melancholy. The lone chair sits in this expansive landscape, under a sky heavy with clouds and the strange, almost sickly light. Up close, you can see the layering of the paint, particularly in the sky, where Strupulis has blended these unreal greens with looming blues. The texture is smooth, and the brushstrokes disappear, adding to the dreamlike quality. Look at the way Strupulis renders the chair: it's so simple, almost diagrammatic, yet it’s bathed in this ethereal light. The artist offers a place of rest or contemplation, but there’s also a sense of abandonment. This picture makes me think of Magritte, with his surreal juxtapositions, but here, it's less about the puzzle and more about the feeling, this lingering sense of solitude. It invites endless interpretation, and maybe that’s the point.