Bridge 1914

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso made this painting of a bridge with oil paint, we don't know exactly when. I wonder how the artist built it up, layer by layer. I can imagine him mixing those shades of orange, ochre, and blue and the feel of the brush as he dabbed at the canvas. Souza-Cardoso's bridge feels both solid and somehow on the verge of dissolving. He has captured an emotional state more than a specific thing. I sympathize with him. I know how he must have felt pushing and pulling and experimenting with texture and color. It feels provisional, as though it might change, not settled or resolved. Souza-Cardoso was part of an amazing community of artists in the early 20th century, always in dialogue, borrowing and riffing off each other's ideas. Painting is like that, an ongoing exchange that keeps evolving over time.