Still Life with Flowers 1955

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this painting of a Still Life with Flowers, with what looks like oil paint, probably sometime in the mid-20th century. The whole thing is built up from these chunky, visible brushstrokes, especially in the background, where they almost become like cobblestones. Looking closely, you can see how the way Konchalovsky applies the paint has real physicality: each stroke sits next to the other, creating this lively, breathing surface. There’s a push and pull between the forms and the ground they sit on, for instance, the red of the rose, and the soft white behind, or the surface of the table with the vase. Take a look at the way the stems of the roses are rendered with bold strokes of green – they’re almost vibrating against that ground. You know, this painting puts me in mind of some of those Fauvist landscapes by Derain, where color and form are so heightened they almost become abstract, but it also captures something uniquely Russian in its directness. Ultimately, it's about embracing the joy of seeing and feeling through paint.