Boats on Yenisey 1972

Petros Malayan painted ‘Boats on Yenisey’ with what looks like oil on canvas, and he worked fast. I can see him building up the image with juicy marks, trying to capture the light and atmosphere. It's not about getting the details perfect, but more about the feeling of being there, right? The thick paint, the way the colors blend—it's all so physical. Look at that big stroke of white for the sun. It's like he just went for it. I imagine he was squinting, trying to get the light just right, and probably wiping his brow a lot because it looks like hard work. It reminds me of some of the early impressionists, the way they were trying to capture fleeting moments, though Malayan brings a particularly Russian sensibility to it all. There is something about the directness of the painting that says it all, really. Like he’s saying, "Here's what I saw, here's what it felt like.” And that’s the beauty of painting, isn’t it? It’s just one person’s way of seeing, a tiny moment in a much larger conversation.