Kyiv in winter (triptych, central part: "On a sled") 1986

Yuriy Khymych made this watercolor painting "Kyiv in Winter" on paper, and you can just feel the cold, damp air. I imagine him standing at a window, brush in hand, watching the snow pile up on the rooftops. The washes of color are so fluid, like the way memories blur together. Look at how the muted browns and yellows of the buildings contrast with the stark white of the snow. It's like he's capturing a fleeting moment, the way the light hits just so, and then it's gone. I love the way the composition leads your eye down the narrow street, past the buildings, to those tiny figures pulling a sled. Maybe Khymych was thinking about his childhood, or maybe he was just trying to capture the feeling of a Kyiv winter. Whatever it was, it's got that emotional weather that makes you want to grab a warm drink and sit by the fire. It reminds me of other painters like, oh, maybe Fairfield Porter, who also found beauty in the everyday. It's like they're all in conversation, sharing their ways of seeing the world.