Mann, Pferd, Kuh 1918

Heinrich Campendonk made this painting, "Mann, Pferd, Kuh," with oil paint, and right away, I'm wondering what he was thinking, arranging these characters like actors on a stage, bathed in this dreamlike, surreal light. The brushwork is so present, you know? It’s like you can feel him layering the colors, that red-orange next to the cool blues. The paint is laid on with conviction. He was really going for it. Look at the way he’s rendered the eye of the horse – it’s peering at the man with this knowing, watchful expression. He's a kind of awkward figure, isn’t he? And that odd little cow! It’s like Campendonk is inviting us into his own private mythology, with the same sort of freedom as someone like Chagall. I can imagine him working on this, late into the night, surrounded by tubes of paint. Ultimately, this painting feels like a heartfelt effort to find meaning in the world through the act of making, and that impulse is something I really admire in other painters.