Landscape with Cows 

Editor: Here we have "Landscape with Cows," an oil painting by Constant Permeke, likely from the early 20th century. It strikes me as intensely yellow, almost aggressively so. The shapes are blocky and powerful, like the earth itself is exhaling. What do you see in this work? Curator: Oh, the yellow, yes! It's as if Permeke bottled pure sunshine and spread it across the canvas with a palette knife. It's a landscape, yes, but one filtered through the artist's soul. Permeke, being an Expressionist, wasn't so interested in objective reality. Instead, the reality is what he *felt* about the land, right? Can't you feel that heavy weight in the way the cows are formed? Editor: I see what you mean, they seem less like cows, more like earth-toned monoliths, rising from the field. I see there's that slight Fauvist color palette as well, everything is so saturated and the colour harmonies seem almost random. Do you see that? Curator: Absolutely. The colours aren’t realistic, which means they are being used to evoke specific emotions. He is playing around with the viewers mind; we think 'cow', yet all we see is form and pigment. He asks us to re-examine the simple things and consider our own responses, feelings, emotions and their truth, to make that truth something tangible, right there, a little bit mad too. And Expressionism? Don’t forget Permeke saw a *lot* during both World Wars. Maybe that accounts for some of that earth-heavy melancholy, huh? Editor: Wow, that really shifts how I see it! From a pleasant, if oddly colored, landscape, to a weighty expression of internal experience. Curator: That's the joy of art, isn't it? One painting, a thousand stories and perceptions, all true.