Spring Landscape 1920

Georgi Mashev, whoever he was, painted this landscape with oil on canvas sometime in the early 20th century. Look at those strokes of blue and green, how they dab and dance to create a whole world. You can almost feel the cool air and the hush of the trees. I imagine Mashev standing right here, squinting at the light, trying to catch that fleeting moment when spring is just waking up. I bet he mixed his greens right there on the canvas, pushing and pulling until they sang with life. The way he used such soft tones reminds me of Corot, but with a bit more grit, a bit more of his own soul poured in. It's like he's not just painting a place but a feeling, a memory of a walk taken long ago. That little path leading into the distance – doesn't it make you want to follow it and see where it goes? Painters are always chatting to each other across time, aren’t they?