The woman reading in the garden 1903

Yeghishe Tadevosyan painted ‘The woman reading in the garden’ with oil on canvas. Look at the way he’s dabbed and speckled the paint, kind of like a pointillist, but looser, more relaxed. You can feel the dappled sunlight and the warmth of the afternoon. I imagine Tadevosyan outside, squinting in the sunlight, trying to capture the moment of quiet contemplation. It must have been a challenge to get the values and intensity of the colors just right to give you that buzzy summery feeling. The woman reading is so absorbed, while the world around her is painted with all these tiny strokes – greens, yellows, blues – like she’s in her own little world. I imagine the white umbrella discarded to the side, like a surrender to the sun. That intense light and the way he builds form with those strokes – it’s like he’s breathing new life into impressionism. I am always inspired to see how painters learn from one another, finding their own voice while staying in conversation with art history.