Tea time 1939

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this still life, "Tea Time", in 1953 with oil paint. The brush strokes are pretty thick and juicy, laid down with confidence, and the whole thing shimmers with a bright, cheerful palette. I can imagine Konchalovsky setting up this scene, maybe on a sunny afternoon, and just going at it with his brushes. Did he want to capture the way the light hits the curves of the teapots, or the way the colors of the fruit pop against the blue background? I bet he was thinking about Cezanne and the way he made color so structural. Look at that dark blue outline of the fruit bowl, how it contains and contrasts the other colors. It’s like he was pushing and pulling the paint around until it felt just right. It's not just a picture of tea time. The painting is alive, full of energy, and has an enduring interest in how we see things. Ultimately, that is how artists keep the conversation going, inspiring each other across time.