Landscape 1959

Valerii Lamakh painted this "Landscape" with oil on canvas, and what strikes me is how the colours aren't trying to be real, they're trying to *feel* real. The paint is laid on with chunky, confident strokes, a real sense of immediacy and process at work. Look at how he's used these thick lines to build up the forms of the trees and foliage, the black outlines popping against the greens and yellows, giving everything this graphic, almost cartoonish punch. There's one spot, right in the foreground, where he's mixed this acidic yellow with a vibrant green, and it just vibrates with energy. It's like he's captured a fleeting moment of sunlight filtering through the leaves, turning the whole scene into a shimmering, living thing. This makes me think of someone like Milton Avery, with his simplified forms and emphasis on feeling over accurate representation. It's less about what you see, and more about how you see it.