Dahlias 1957

Kateryna Bilokur made this painting of dahlias without any formal training; she made her own brushes and paints. I find that so inspiring. Look at the tiger lily. It’s as if she gently coaxed it into being with dabs of colour, dot after dot; a meditative act of love and attention. It has this quality of folk art, but I can see echoes of Symbolism in there too. It reminds me a little of Odilon Redon, you know? It’s like she’s whispering to us about the interconnectedness of things; how painting lets us find our place in the world. That’s why artists keep returning to nature, it is not just about representation. It’s about feeling, about translating sensation onto a surface, trying to get at something that is just beyond our grasp.