Paysage Cubiste c. 1914

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso made this painting, Paysage Cubiste, with oil paint, and a whole lot of guts. I’m thinking about the act of painting itself, how this image came into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and hopefully a bit of intuition. You know, there's a tenderness in the color palette, the muted greens and browns, like he’s trying to capture something fleeting and melancholic. I see that archway, and I imagine him thinking about doorways, portals, somewhere between inside and outside. What was he thinking when he made this? About the material aspects of painting, the texture, the color, the surface. I wonder if the paint is thick or thin? There's a conversation happening here, between de Souza-Cardoso and painters who came before, painters who would follow. This is how artists work. They're in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas across time, inspiring each other's creativity. And it all started with a brushstroke.