Ein Karem 1944

Mordecai Ardon made this painting, Ein Karem, with visible brushstrokes and a palette of earth tones punctuated by touches of green and blue. I imagine him building this landscape from the ground up, layering color upon color, maybe wiping it away, then adding more. You can almost feel the weight of the brush in his hand. The painting isn’t trying to trick you into thinking this *is* a landscape; instead, it's showing you how a landscape *becomes* a painting. Look at those small strokes of color. They’re not just describing what he sees, but also what he feels. I bet Ardon stood in front of this vista and thought about other painters, like Cezanne and the post-impressionists, who also broke down forms and rebuilt them with color and texture. It’s like they’re all in this ongoing conversation, bouncing ideas off each other across time.