Landscape with Houses at Balcic 

Curator: Okay, let’s talk about this intriguing landscape—"Landscape with Houses at Balcic" by Constantin Artachino. Painted en plein air, it presents us with a sun-drenched street view. What's your first take? Editor: Immediately, I feel the quietude. The muted palette creates this wonderful stillness. I love the way the road leads your eye up and into the heart of the scene, like stepping back in time. It makes you want to stroll right in. Curator: Indeed! Artachino was adept at capturing a sense of place. Observe how he’s used brushstrokes here. Notice the impasto in the foreground—it's so loose, it almost dissolves the solid form. The rooftops glow in that way Mediterranean light will catch surfaces. I also find his understanding of perspective quite remarkable. He plays with a certain flattening of space to achieve harmony of composition. Editor: Absolutely. The realism, but not rigidly so; that soft haze that makes you question is it nostalgia or did Artachino see it just like that? I mean, look how the trees are suggested, rather than defined. I wonder, are the shadows more real than the forms? Does that person sitting alone feel it too? What secrets are in plain sight that Artachino knew about it? It has to be more than the sunshine. Curator: Precisely! The painting lives in the suggestion, not the explicit declaration. The palette, grounded in ochre, beige and earth tones and then the sharp vertical houses… It really encapsulates the architectural language of the Balkans so simply. And that subtle contrast actually reinforces our attention towards the overall architectural form, as it echoes across the canvas to unite the picture space as one. Editor: There's a sense of mystery that underpins it. It almost seems a secret narrative taking place there. I can't help feeling I know more when looking at than when not. Curator: Absolutely. It’s a humble scene treated with great depth and empathy. It really shows how much the artist was attuned with nature and architectural nuances in shaping his visual narrative here, don’t you agree? Editor: It’s less about the what and more about how he saw it—that's always the charm for me. It definitely leaves you feeling changed in some profound, inexpressible manner after contemplating this idyllic, painterly, realist Balcic.