Segovia 1916

Ernest Lawson made this oil painting, Segovia, sometime in the early twentieth century. Look how Lawson builds the image from so many little marks! Each dab of paint feels like a small decision, layering up into something bigger. It's like he's thinking through the paint. The texture is super present here. You can almost feel the push and pull of the brush. And the way he mixes colors right on the canvas! See that spot on the hillside, where the green meets the yellow? It's not blended perfectly, and that rawness gives it so much life. I love the way the sky is rendered with strokes of white and pale blue, giving it a sense of depth and movement. Lawson was part of a group called "The Eight," who were all about showing the grit and reality of urban life. But here, he's painting something grand and historical. Maybe he's reminding us that even the most solid things are made of messy, human gestures. It makes me think of Van Gogh, in the way he used paint to capture the emotional intensity of a scene. Anyway, it’s like a visual poem, open to endless readings.