Autumn Sun 1909

Vilhelms Purvitis created this landscape of Autumn Sun with paint, and a whole lot of looking. There’s a process here, of building up tiny marks to create something big, like when you zoom in on a digital image, it's all just pixels, right? I love how the surface of the water seems to shimmer with light; the dabs of paint suggest movement, a kind of living energy. The way the colors are layered, it almost feels like you could reach out and touch the texture of the leaves, the coolness of the water. Look how the blue of the sky is made up of tiny brushstrokes; it's not just one flat color, but a whole world of blues mixing together! Purvitis’s work reminds me a bit of Gerhard Richter, but with a warmer, more romantic feel. Both of them show how painting can be an ongoing exploration, not just of what we see, but of how we see. It’s like they’re asking us to rethink what a landscape can be, and what it can mean.