Palo Alto Circle 1943

Richard Diebenkorn created this painting, Palo Alto Circle, with oil on canvas. There’s something about the way Diebenkorn approaches a scene—the shadows cast by the building and the way they hit the fence—that really slows you down. I can imagine him standing here, considering how to translate the feeling of a specific place, that California light, into a painting. What was he trying to get at? You can see the history of painting in this work: it’s as if Diebenkorn is having a conversation with the Impressionists, but on his own terms, with a West Coast sensibility. The color palette is muted but still there, a really nice gray, and the texture is smooth, not fussy. This feels like a painting about seeing, about trying to understand a place through color and form. Diebenkorn's work reminds us that painting is a way of thinking.