The north-south 1912

Gino Severini made this painting, The North-South, with oil paint, though the exact date is not known. Look at the way Severini lays down these small, choppy strokes of paint, building up the image like a mosaic. It’s almost as if the artist is building with pure colour, creating a sense of movement and frenetic energy. I find the use of colour here so evocative – the mix of blues, yellows, and reds clashing and harmonizing, mirroring the sensory overload of a busy city. Notice too how the paint is applied – not blended or smoothed, but left raw and textured. Each stroke is visible, a trace of the artist's hand and the physical act of painting. Take for instance the figures seated in the centre of the composition, created with layers of muted blues and greys, the quick strokes seem to vibrate and shimmer before my eyes. Severini’s work reminds me a little of the earlier Fauvist painter, André Derain, who also used bold, unblended colour, but here we also see the influence of Cubism, in the flattening of space and the simultaneous perspectives. Art is nothing if not a conversation across time, a back and forth of ideas and aesthetics.