Ruins of Pompeii 1908

Fujishima Takeji captured the Ruins of Pompeii on canvas with oil paints and a brush full of feeling. Just look at that sky – those marks, made with a loaded brush, are so evocative. You can almost feel the heat radiating off the stones, the weight of history pressing down. I bet he was thinking about time and the power of nature. And, of course, other paintings of ruins – how can you not? You can see him figuring it out in front of the motif, responding to the light, and the ochre in the stones. The brushstrokes are loose and expressive, thick in some places, thin in others. See the long strokes of the columns? They are like whispers of form, hinting at the grandeur that once was. It's a conversation, right? Fujishima is chatting with the old masters, with the ruins themselves, and with us, inviting us to contemplate what remains. And in painting there are no wrong answers, just more questions.