Cliffs on the shore 1902

Magnus Enckell made Cliffs on the Shore in 1909, probably with soft pastels. Look at the way he's built the form of the rocks with these powdery marks. It's as if he's searching for the form, letting the strokes accumulate. The rocks aren't just things, they are made of process! I love how tactile this piece is, even though it's just pigment on paper. The surface almost feels like velvet, and the colors are so muted and earthy, yet with these vibrant pops of orange and red. I keep coming back to those marks, little moments of heat within the cool blues and grays. It's all about layering, letting one color peek through another, like memories or feelings rising to the surface. You can almost feel him making these marks! Enckell's work reminds me of Odilon Redon, both of them so good at turning an inner vision into something tangible. It's that dance between seeing and feeling, knowing that art is never really finished, just paused for a moment.