Landscape 1944

This painting by Arshile Gorky looks like it was made with washes of color, probably in oil or maybe even gouache, and pencil on canvas. The dominant marks are these soft, translucent shapes and meandering lines. It's almost as if the painting came into being through a process of layering and revealing, like an archeological dig, each layer hinting at what lies beneath. I can imagine Gorky standing before the canvas, brush in hand, his mind racing, trying to capture a fleeting sensation. What I see is a blend of memory and imagination, a landscape that exists more in the mind than in reality. The way the colors bleed into one another creates a dreamy, ethereal quality, like looking through a mist. Think about this gesture, how it evokes a sense of melancholy, of longing. For me, it recalls the work of other painters like Kandinsky or Miro. Artists are always in conversation, and their ideas influence each other across time. Ultimately, painting is a form of expression, a process, full of ambiguity, and allowing multiple interpretations.