The Ravine A 1913

Rik Wouters made "The Ravine A" with oil on canvas, and right away you see these dominant strokes of greens and browns, oranges and yellows. I’m imagining Rik, in that ravine, probably squinting a little, trying to capture not just the scene, but the feeling of it. I can almost feel his hand moving, shifting, adding little dashes of ochre, dabs of viridian, building it up with each touch. I mean, look at how the paint is applied, thin in some spots, thicker in others, especially in the foreground. I picture him layering it on, maybe even using a palette knife to get that texture. The vertical strokes mimic the trees, that upward motion kinda sings against the horizontal landscape. It reminds me of other painters like, say, Cézanne or the Fauves, who were all about pushing color to express an emotion. Wouters, like them, reminds us that painting is a conversation across time, isn't it? A way to explore, to express, and to keep the dialogue going, one brushstroke at a time.