At the Market 1925

Stefan Dimitrescu made this oil painting, At the Market, with loose brushstrokes in shades of brown, white and blue, capturing a bustling scene with figures and animals. I can imagine Dimitrescu standing there, plein air, squinting in the sun, capturing the scene before him with quick, confident strokes. Look at the thick impasto and the way Dimitrescu layers the paint to build texture and form. The figures emerge from a jumble of expressive marks. I wonder what he was thinking as he dabbed and swirled the paint? I'm particularly drawn to the way the light catches the folds of the loaded textile on the donkey, creating depth and movement. There’s a real immediacy and rawness to this painting, a sense of the artist trying to capture the fleeting energy of a marketplace. Dimitrescu clearly understood painting as a way of seeing, thinking, and feeling the world. His work continues to inspire us today, inviting us to embrace the ambiguity and uncertainty that are part of being human.