Still Life with Cabbage 1937

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this painting, *Still Life with Cabbage*, with oil paint on canvas. Konchalovsky's thick brushstrokes are vital to his style and the very character of the composition. Look closely, and you’ll notice the painting consists of rapid, vigorous marks. In painting with such a visible method, Konchalovsky shares an interest with contemporaries who embraced modernism. However, unlike many of those artists, Konchalovsky didn’t abandon realism entirely. Instead, he uses it to emphasize the tangible presence and raw energy of the vegetables themselves. This painting celebrates everyday, humble subjects, not traditionally considered worthy of art. The artist elevates these to something monumental. It is this material sensibility that makes the work so vibrant, and gives it social weight. The painting draws our attention to things that are grown and made with great labor, and then consumed. It’s a reminder to value both the processes and the final products.