The Triumph of Romance 2009

Bo Bartlett painted this artwork, The Triumph of Romance, and I can imagine he built up the image in layers, deciding on his palette as he went. It's like the painting grew organically, a bit like life, full of surprises. The dress is where it’s really at in terms of process. It is built up in many layers of thick impasto paint and the way these layers stand out from the canvas make this piece so dynamic and emotional. Looking closely, you can see how each brushstroke adds to the texture, giving it a tactile quality, like you could almost feel the silkiness of the dress, the roughness of the terrain. It reminds me of Manet's Olympia, how both artists used paint to create a sense of immediacy and presence. Art, like romance, is an ongoing conversation, full of possibilities, where meaning is never fixed but always evolving.