Rome 1958

Charles Lapicque made this painting, 'Rome,' with big, juicy strokes of paint, and lots of pinks and oranges. It looks like a painting that came into being intuitively, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I like to think about what it was like to create this image, those moments of doubt, followed by intuitive breakthroughs. The paint is applied so thickly in some areas, like those turquoise blobs, but scraped back in others, revealing the surface underneath. I love that quirky line quality and the odd way in which he flattens out the image. These choices create a unique way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world. It’s not so different from how other painters, like Milton Avery, have approached a landscape. Ultimately, artists are in conversation across time, inspiring each other’s creativity. Painting is a form of embodied expression. Lapicque embraces ambiguity here, allowing for multiple interpretations.