The Jug on the Table 1915

Lyubov Popova made this painting, "The Jug on the Table," and what I love about it is how she takes the everyday and turns it into something totally unexpected. The colors are subdued, mostly whites and grays, but it’s the way she applies the paint that grabs me. You can see the brushstrokes, like she's building up the image layer by layer. It's like she's showing you the process, not just the final product. Look at how the jug is broken down into these geometric shapes, almost like a puzzle. Each plane is carefully shaded to give it volume, but then she twists everything around, so it’s hard to tell what’s up or down. There's a real push and pull between abstraction and representation here, a tension that keeps the eye moving. It reminds me a little of Braque or Picasso, but with a uniquely Russian twist. Like they say, art is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and thinking that keeps evolving over time.