Autumn Evening 1923

Igor Grabar made this oil on canvas, Autumn Evening, and it's just soaked in the hazy light of the season. Look at how he's built up the surface, especially in those trees framing the scene. You can almost feel him dabbing and stippling with the brush to capture the fleeting light through the leaves. I can imagine him standing there, trying to pin down the exact moment when the day starts to fade. The surface has this kind of scumbled, broken quality to it that makes the whole thing shimmer. It reminds me of the Impressionists, of course, but there’s something more rugged and grounded about Grabar's approach. It’s like he's less interested in pure optical sensation and more in the weight and feel of the landscape. He's clearly talking to them, but bringing his own voice to the conversation. It reminds me of the constant back-and-forth we have as artists, always building on what came before, trying to find our own way of seeing.