The road in the southern city 1908

Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin made this painting, The Road in the Southern City, with oil on canvas. Looking at those grey, white and blue dabs of colour I can almost feel him standing there, trying to capture the scene, squinting in the bright southern light. It probably shifted and changed as he worked. You know, painting en plein air is like a conversation with the world, a way of wrestling what you see into something solid. The paint is put on thick and direct to describe the road, the buildings and the landscape. The brushstrokes are visible, lively. Look at how the white of the buildings on the left is almost thrown on, mixed with blues and yellows! I'm picturing him stepping back, tilting his head, trying to catch the feeling of the place. It reminds me of some of my own struggles in the studio - that constant push and pull between intention and accident. I think all painters are somehow in conversation, borrowing and riffing off each other across time. There's no one way to see or paint, and that's what makes it all so exciting!