Holy Family of the Grappa 1903

Noè Bordignon made ‘Holy Family of the Grappa’ with oil on canvas, and you can really feel the hand of the artist, especially in the landscape. Think about Bordignon, standing in front of the canvas, building up these figures with short, broken brushstrokes. I like imagining what the air felt like, how the light might have struck the hills, and the way the artist mixed browns and greens to evoke the quiet rural setting. It reminds me a little of Corot, but with a folksy twist. What was he thinking when he chose those blues and reds for the clothing? Look at how he’s built up the surface, one stroke at a time, creating texture and light with little dabs of paint. You know, painting is like a conversation between you and the canvas. Bordignon, like so many artists, was in dialogue with his predecessors, learning from them while finding his own voice. Each mark is a decision, a feeling made visible.