Four Figures on Wharf 1952

Alex Colville made this painting, Four Figures on Wharf, in an unknown year with a cool, restrained palette, almost like he's staging a play, a dream, or maybe even a nightmare. I can imagine Colville carefully planning the composition, each brushstroke deliberate. Did he start with the figures, placing them like actors on a stage? Or did the stark geometry of the wharf come first, dictating the scene? The figures themselves are so still, almost like sculptures, yet their poses suggest a narrative—someone lost in thought, someone looking out to sea. This recalls the metaphysical paintings of de Chirico, that feeling of unease, of something just out of reach. But Colville's precision, his meticulous realism, gives the scene a different kind of tension. Ultimately, it feels like he invites us to bring our own stories, our own interpretations, to this quiet, enigmatic moment. We are all in conversation with the artworks of the past, and the possibilities they open up.