Girl from Arles 1908

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this oil painting, Girl from Arles, and just look at how he applies the paint! See how each brushstroke sits next to the other without blending or dissolving to create shapes and forms. It’s a dance of dabs and dashes! Now, what I love here is how Konchalovsky uses the materiality of the paint. The colours, so bright, almost vibrate. It's neither thin nor thick, but applied directly and evenly with a square brush. This approach really flattens the image, but the painting style is so direct and full of energy. Just look at the green wall, each stroke remains separate, creating a pattern. The hands are beautifully painted, they are not a solid white colour, but full of shades of green and red. It reminds me of Van Gogh and his restless paintings! In both artists’ work, the painting is not trying to hide its making, but declares itself as a process. It says: look how I became myself, in the world!