Fir forest road 1908

Arkady Rylov made this landscape with oil paint, a meeting of the forest and the road. I can imagine Rylov outside, maybe a bit cold, looking for a place to set up his easel. He squints at the scene before him, trying to see the shapes in the shadows. He mixes colors on his palette, dabbing his brush into the paint, maybe muttering to himself about getting the values right. You can see how the paint is put down in blocks and strokes, and how the sky has this heavy grey feeling. The road, rendered in warm browns, curves invitingly, like a portal into another world. This painting feels so much like other landscape paintings, and other painters, like Courbet, or even Milton Avery. Rylov’s having a conversation with them all in the space of the canvas. Paintings don't ever really tell you one thing, it's more like they invite you into a mood, and then you can make up your own mind!