Imaginative Composition - 'The Tent' 1923

David Bomberg made this painting called Imaginative Composition - 'The Tent', and right away I’m drawn to the way he’s really feeling out the forms, building them with these chunky marks and outlines. It's like he's thinking through the paint, one stroke at a time. I love the surface of this piece, it's all about the push and pull of the paint. The colours are muted, but there's this energy in the way they’re laid down, thick and thin. Look at how the dark outlines kind of vibrate against the softer hues inside. It’s not just describing something, it's creating a feeling, a mood. Like a half remembered dream. You can see Bomberg's wrestling with how to depict the essence of his subject, more than just its appearance. It reminds me a little of Philip Guston, later on, in that same spirit of searching and questioning. Art is always about finding new ways to see, and Bomberg really gets at that.