Houses at Vitebsk 1917

Marc Chagall painted ‘Houses at Vitebsk’ with oil on canvas and, wow, does it have a certain mood. The browns and greys give it a kind of seriousness but then there is that electric blue house, which really zings! Looking at the gate, you can see how the brushstrokes are laid down, kind of thick and deliberate. It's like he's letting us in on the secret of how it’s made. It’s not trying to trick you into thinking it's a photograph! I love the way the artist uses the paint to give the scene this grounded, earthy feeling. There’s a real sense of depth, all the way to that fence on the right. It reminds me a little of the way that Paula Modersohn-Becker used to paint landscapes. Both artists share a certain roughness, an honesty. Ultimately, there’s something so open about this piece. It feels like an invitation.