Roman Bridge at Mostar 1903

This painting, Roman Bridge at Mostar, was made by Tivadar Kosztka Csontvary, though the exact date is unknown. Csontvary’s paintings often feel like they are on the verge of some kind of ecstatic explosion; he was interested in the moment before or after something happened. Look how the surface seems scrubbed and sanded back, like he’s removing layers of paint to reveal the raw essence of the scene. You get a real sense of the materiality of the paint itself; there is a deliberate crudeness here, not in a bad way, but as if the artist is wrestling with his materials. See the way the colours in the water slide over each other? He’s not trying to make it look exactly like water; instead, he’s exploring the emotional qualities of each colour. It makes me think of Marsden Hartley, another artist drawn to raw expression and the emotional power of landscape. They both embrace the ambiguity of paint, revelling in the space between representation and feeling.