Gerajte 1908

Ivan Grohar made this landscape painting with oils, smudging and stroking the paint to capture the light on this scene. I like to think of him working outdoors, facing the elements, trying to translate what he sees, feels, and intuits onto this little rectangle. There’s something endearing in the way the horizon droops a little, and the buildings list to the side, too. I get the sense he’s really grappling with how to make paint show light and depth and form all at once. It reminds me of other painters like Van Gogh and Cezanne, all working at the edge of representation, asking paint to do something new. See how the strokes of color build up the forms, like the shadows pulling the buildings into space? Grohar makes you feel the earth, the buildings, and sky with their own distinct textures and movement. Painting is a conversation across time, and I wonder what Grohar might have thought of our work today?