Bottles 1960

Richard Diebenkorn’s “Bottles,” is, well, a painting of bottles, but it’s really about how he saw the world, dabbed onto the canvas with oil paint. The strokes are confident, each one a decision, yet the whole feels like a beautiful, considered accident. Look at the way the paint sits on the surface, thick in some spots, thinned down in others. It’s almost like Diebenkorn is letting us in on his process, showing us how he builds up the image, layer by layer. See that bottle in the foreground? It's not just a bottle; it's a collection of blues and whites, capturing light and shadow with such simplicity. The whole scene feels like a conversation, not just between the artist and the objects, but between colors and shapes. There's a touch of Matisse in that bold use of color, that willingness to let the painting be a painting, a flat surface with its own kind of truth. It reminds us that art isn't about answers but about seeing the same old things in endlessly new ways.