Vase with flowers and book by the window 1954

David Burliuk’s oil painting, “Vase with flowers and book by the window,” is a burst of blooms and daylight. I can imagine him attacking that canvas with gusto, those strokes of thick paint almost alive, wriggling in their eagerness to capture light and form. I think back to my own studio, the struggle to squeeze out those colours, the dance with brushes, the sheer physicality of wrestling paint across the canvas. Look at how he built up the texture of those flowers, layer upon layer. There’s something so direct, almost childlike, in the way he renders the scene before him. That window, slightly ajar, a glimpse of the outside world hinting at a life beyond the frame. It reminds me of Van Gogh's expressive brushstrokes, that same raw energy. Artists are always in conversation with each other, borrowing, stealing, and building upon what came before. Painting, in the end, is about embracing uncertainty, allowing for multiple readings, a continuous becoming of meaning.