Kem 1905

Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin made this painting, Kem, with oil on canvas. I like to imagine how paintings come into being, slowly shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. In this artwork, warm browns and soft creams have been applied with expressive brushstrokes. The paint looks thick and buttery, especially in the foreground. You can almost feel the texture. I sympathize with the artist, imagining him standing there, looking at the landscape, and trying to capture the light, the mood, and the feeling of the place. There’s a figure, probably a woman, in front of one of the buildings, who may have paused to speak to the artist. Did he ask her to pose for him? Did he take her likeness, or did he just remember how she looked? These material aspects of the painting shape our experience, like the way the buildings slope, communicating the feeling of a remote village. Painters inspire one another's creativity. Painting is an embodied expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.