Mountain Landscape 1970

This landscape by Alla Horska is painted with bold, colorful strokes that capture the energy of the mountains. I imagine Alla layering these shapes, figuring out how to make them lock together just so, in that way that only painters know! It’s almost like she’s building up these geometric forms, one by one, like she's constructing a whole world with those colors. I see the influence of Cubism in how she simplifies the shapes. That band of orange-yellow in the sky, for example, is so energetic! I love how it contrasts against those sharp green and blue mountain peaks. It really shows you how a simple gesture can communicate so much, doesn't it? I bet she looked at other landscape painters, like Cezanne, and asked herself, “How can I push this further?” It's this conversation between artists across time that makes painting so exciting. It reminds us that everything’s up for grabs and artists keep on finding new ways of expressing things.