The bridge at the mill 1908

Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin made this landscape painting, using oil paint, with what looks like confident and deliberate brushstrokes. The surface of this piece is alive with texture! Thick paint applied with visible brushstrokes creates an almost sculptural quality, especially when you look at the way the light bounces off the bridge. You can practically feel the rough texture of the wooden planks beneath your feet. I love the way the light plays with the surfaces, like broken reflections. There's a particular mark, right at the end of the bridge near to the water. It looks like a single, bold stroke of dark paint – maybe a mix of black and brown – that anchors the composition and creates a sense of depth. Korovin's approach reminds me a little of someone like Courbet – that same embrace of physicality and materiality. I see in both an understanding that art is about the messy, complicated process of seeing and feeling, more than about representing a fixed idea or image.