A Date 1926

Victor Palmov made this painting, A Date, with oil paint, perhaps on canvas, and bathed in swathes of blue. The painting is all blues, top to bottom; the people, the buildings, even the grass, all flow together into a sea of indigo. I can imagine Palmov layering these blues over one another, moving between shades to create depth and form. What was he thinking, what was he feeling as he brushed the paint across the canvas? The surface seems chalky, and I wonder if he mixed something with the oil paint to flatten it out and remove the sheen. I see the man holding the mandolin; there’s a building and a heart floating above them. It is like a dream, figures and objects are conjured from the imagination. Palmov, like many artists, shares his vision with us, adding to an ongoing conversation between artists across time, inspiring each other's creativity. It is a vision rooted in the personal but reaching towards something universal.