Apples 1953

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this painting of apples with oil on canvas; it’s full of juicy strokes of predominantly green and yellow hues. I imagine the making of this painting as a dance between seeing and feeling. The artist, peering at the apples, basket, and leaves, then lunging at the canvas with a brush loaded with paint, trying to capture the essence of what he saw. The brushstrokes are thick and expressive, giving the painting a tactile quality, like you could reach out and grab an apple. Look how the colors blend and blur, creating a hazy, dreamlike effect, and the dark outlines give weight to the apples, as if the artist wanted to anchor them. It reminds me of Cezanne’s apples, but with a Russian twist. Perhaps Konchalovsky was thinking of Cezanne when he painted this. Ultimately, this painting is an exchange between artists across time, reminding us that creativity is a conversation that never really ends.