Still Life. Bread, ham and wine. 1948

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this oil painting, Still Life. Bread, ham and wine, at an unknown date. It’s a painting that feels like a study in contrasts. Look at the thick, almost sculptural application of paint on the ham, versus the flatter, more blended areas like the wall behind. It's like Konchalovsky is thinking aloud, showing us his process. There’s a tension between the realism of the objects and the abstract way they're rendered. The texture of the ham practically begs to be touched, yet it's also just pure paint. The colours of the meat go from pale pink to a really deep, almost menacing brown, but those colours are what make it look so lifelike. It reminds me of Soutine, in that willingness to push the boundaries of colour and form to evoke a feeling. It shows that painting is an ongoing conversation between artists, where ideas are borrowed, transformed, and made new.