Pines at Rafina 1920

Konstantinos Maleas’s ‘Pines at Rafina’ is built up from many small brushstrokes to create this sunny scene. I can imagine Maleas outside, squinting in the bright light. It's easy to see Maleas working, trying to capture the essence of the landscape through his energetic brushwork. The marks are playful, like the artist is dancing with the brush, moving between observation and invention. He's using a mosaic of color, that is somehow both naturalistic and abstract at the same time. Painters like Maleas and Cezanne invite us to see the world not as a fixed image but as an experience, and a process. Thinking about the painting process, how it creates a site of inquiry for the artist, and how various forms of painting offer different ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting is a form of embodied expression, which allows for multiple interpretations and meaning.