Houses in Poiana Mărului 1972

Horia Bernea made this painting of houses, probably outdoors, with oil paint and a brush. The marks are so immediate and physical, you can almost feel the artist standing there, squinting in the sun, trying to capture the way the light hits those red roofs. I wonder what it was like for him, setting up his easel, mixing those earthy tones. The paint is applied so directly, thick in some places, thin in others, like he’s wrestling with the image, trying to get it just right. There's one juicy stroke of muddy brown that makes a kind of horizon line—it’s so simple, but it holds the whole painting together! It reminds me a little of some of the early expressionists, like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who were also trying to capture the raw, unvarnished reality of rural life. Artists, you know, are always in conversation with each other, riffing on each other's ideas, trying to find their own way of seeing the world. And that's what painting is all about, right? A way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, all at the same time.