Marina Grande, Capri. Winter 1927

Konstantin Gorbatov painted this scene of Marina Grande, Capri with oils, probably en plein air, grappling with the light and air of the Mediterranean. Look at how he’s built up that mountain with strokes of grey and ochre, and how the clouds echo its form, soft and billowy. I can imagine him, squinting in the sunlight, dabbing paint onto the canvas, trying to capture the way the light bounces off the water and those colorful buildings. There’s a real sense of immediacy, like he’s wrestling with the scene, trying to pin down a fleeting moment. The boats in the foreground are just these loose, gestural marks, but they totally evoke the feeling of being in a bustling harbor. You can almost smell the salt air and hear the chatter of the fishermen. It reminds me of other painters, like Sorolla, who were also obsessed with capturing the light and energy of coastal life. We're all just trying to find our own way of seeing, our own way of making marks that speak to something true.