Asters and zinnias in a clay jug 1917

Tadeusz Makowski made this painting of asters and zinnias in a clay jug with oil on canvas, but when I look at the brushstrokes it’s the texture I notice first. See how the paint is built up, thick in some places and thin in others? It’s like Makowski was feeling his way through the shapes, letting the paint guide him. I can see the individual strokes that make up the flowers and the jug, each one a little decision, a little push and pull. And the colours, they’re not quite realistic, are they? More like a memory of colours, a feeling. There’s a dark purple flower right in the middle that seems to anchor the whole painting, drawing your eye in. It’s a reminder that painting is a process of discovery, a way of seeing and thinking. It reminds me a little of Morandi, with its quiet simplicity and focus on everyday objects, like a conversation about form and colour that has been going on for centuries.