Feeding a horse 1914

Tadeusz Makowski made this painting called "Feeding a Horse" with oil on what looks like a small piece of board. I love how direct it is! The colours are earthy, and it's all about the strokes. Look at the horse; it’s like a bunch of brushstrokes pretending to be a horse, right? I find myself thinking about how the horse's body is rendered in these chunky reds and browns, and then there's that patch of blue, just sitting there on its back. It’s not really about making a perfect picture of a horse. It’s more like… feeling the horse, feeling the moment. The ground is this scrumble of paint, yellows and browns all mixed up. It looks like Makowski was really digging into the paint, not trying to smooth things over. It reminds me of Van Gogh, but maybe with a bit more… I don’t know… Polish soul? It’s like he's saying, "Here’s a horse, here’s a person, here’s the earth, all made of the same stuff: paint!"