The Tree 

Curator: Look at that painting! “The Tree” by Kimon Loghi. Something about it feels so utterly…autumnal, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by the materiality. Notice the thick impasto—that tactile layering of oil paint practically turns the leaves into physical objects, heavy with color. How was it applied? Curator: You're right; it’s like he sculpted the light! Considering it's an oil painting done, supposedly, en plein air, it's astounding how much depth Loghi achieved, that luminous backdrop, like a stage set. Editor: It’s less a tree and more the idea of a tree. Consider how Loghi treats his subject: nature rendered as consumable—processed, aesthetically transformed for the viewer's pleasure. This speaks volumes about the artist’s relationship to the landscape itself. What social class did Loghi occupy that led him to have the privilege and access to these paints, easels, and locations? Curator: You are asking a vital point: his environment undoubtedly played a role in the perception of this scene. The colours— that fierce orange fading into earthy yellows—they suggest a landscape breathing its last, but somehow triumphant breath before winter, or just someone taking a quick glance while sitting near their own home. What do you think he meant with the height, going from floor to ceiling? Editor: Its physical height must require a lot of materials which points me back to my earlier question of how was Loghi afforded this. Curator: Yes, but to be able to view such heights and feel as if this particular perspective needed so much paint and height can show something more. For instance, for myself, the composition is unusual—framing the central vista with those towering trees. Do you sense a spiritual quality too? It almost feels cathedral-like. Editor: The spiritual is embedded in those very materials. Loghi manipulates oil—a commodity, a product of industry—to conjure feelings of nature. This tension, for me, complicates any easy reading of spirituality. It's labor masquerading as enlightenment! What were people who created and were close to land and material experiencing at the time Loghi was creating art about nature from a distance? Curator: Perhaps that’s its power! We see our own experiences and tensions reflected in it, it brings a certain tension for thought about what and who. I will mull on the fact of what material reality and class means when creating what is considered a masterpiece.