Don Quixote and Sancho Panza 1941

David Burliuk painted this small, square painting of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza with oil on canvas. Look at the rugged surfaces! Burliuk laid the paint on thick, like he was building something, not just depicting it. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving, pushing the paint around to create these almost sculptural forms. The painting is mostly blues, browns and whites, but with a touch of yellows and pinks, which gives it a dreamlike feeling. I wonder what Burliuk was thinking about as he made this painting. Don Quixote is such an important figure. This feels like Burliuk is in conversation with a whole history of art and literature. He's asking: How do we see the world, and how do we represent it? Like, is it through squinting and trowelling the scene, or what? Burliuk reminds us that painting is an act of exploration, a way of thinking through feeling. It’s not just about what you see, but about how you experience the world, and how you translate that experience into something new.