Aurora sul Golfo 1935

Gerardo Dottori’s ‘Aurora sul Golfo’ is a painting that, for me, feels like an experiment in seeing, an attempt to capture an atmospheric event on canvas. Look at how Dottori builds up the image with these rhythmic, almost topographical lines. They undulate across the surface, creating a sense of depth, but also flattening the image into a kind of map. Notice especially how the concentric circles around the sun create a really tangible sense of light radiating outwards. It's as if he's not just painting what he sees, but also how he feels about this landscape. The colors, too, are doing a lot of work here. The greens and blues create this serene, almost otherworldly atmosphere. It reminds me a little of early Kandinsky, with that same interest in the spiritual potential of abstract forms. Both artists were deeply interested in the way that art could offer a kind of visual music. It's less about representation and more about creating an experience, a feeling, a mood.