Vista Do Caminho Para Mariana 1962

Alberto da Veiga Guignard made this landscape painting, Vista Do Caminho Para Mariana, seemingly on the spot, en plein air. The colours are muted and earthy, like he mixed his paints right from the soil of the scene itself. Up close, you see how Guignard applied the paint in layers, thin washes building up to thicker, more deliberate strokes. The way he renders the rooftops, for example, with dabs and dashes of ochre and white, gives them a kind of shimmering, ethereal quality. Look at how the brush dances across the canvas, at the gestural energy of the marks. There is a sense of improvisation, of responding directly to the landscape before him. There's something about this work that reminds me of a more contemporary painter like Peter Doig. Both artists share a similar sensibility, a willingness to embrace the accidental, the imperfect, in pursuit of a more authentic expression. It’s a reminder that art is never really finished, but rather a continuous process of exploration and discovery.