Distant View of the Pyramids 1921

Winston Churchill made this landscape painting, ‘Distant View of the Pyramids’ without a specific date, seemingly as a personal reflection. The sky takes up more than half the painting, and Churchill uses these loose, washy strokes to create a blend of blues, yellows, and oranges that feels very dreamy. There’s a real sense of improvisation. Looking at the way the paint is applied, it's not about hiding the brushstrokes; instead, each one feels like a little decision, a record of the painting coming into being. See how he lets the brushstrokes sit on the surface, especially in the sky, creating these layers of color that shimmer. It's like he's trying to capture not just what he sees, but how it feels to see it. This approach reminds me of late Turner. It is as if he's suggesting that our experience of the world is always filtered through our own perceptions and feelings.