Kaunas. Zhalyakalnis in winter. 1939

Dobuzhinsky made this watercolour painting of Kaunas, Zhalyakalnis in winter, somewhere in the first half of the 20th century, and you can see how he really goes to town with the washes and the delicate, almost scribbled lines. What strikes me is the mix of mediums, how they play off one another, like an embrace. The paper has this warm, inviting tone, while the houses are built up with a lovely layering of grey and blue that feels both solid and ephemeral. The tree in the foreground is just gorgeous. Look at how the branches reach out, and the colour seems to vibrate against the snow. The marks are kind of like dance steps. The snowflakes are not perfect. Each one seems to be different, with their own character. It reminds me that art is an ongoing conversation, where there are no easy answers, only more questions and new ways of seeing. Just as with the work of someone like Emil Nolde, you are getting a feeling as much as you are seeing a scene, the feeling of being there in that moment, and it’s a beautiful thing.