By the Lake 1933

Konstantin Gorbatov painted By the Lake with oil on canvas, but when? Who knows! Look at how the light here is captured in these small, gestural marks, like he’s trying to grab at something fleeting. Isn’t that the point of painting? Trying to capture something real, but ending up with only a representation of it. I like how the blue paint near the trees bleeds into the water, and then into the mountains in the background. It is this one single color that defines the whole picture. It's like he's created a visual echo. Gorbatov reminds me a little of the Russian Impressionist Isaac Levitan, the way both artists use landscape to evoke a mood, a feeling of spaciousness, quiet and contemplation. As an artist, I love the ambiguity here. It's not about what we see, but how we see it, and what that makes us feel.