Countryside at summer 1946

David Burliuk made this painting called, 'Countryside at Summer' sometime during his career, likely with oil paint. Look at how Burliuk layered the greens and blues – dabs and strokes building up the textures of the trees and the sky. It’s like he's not just painting what he sees, but also how he feels about being in this landscape. The surface has this incredible tactile quality, doesn't it? You can almost feel the bristles of the brush and the thickness of the paint. See how he’s used these small strokes of white and light blue in the sky? They give the clouds this airy, light-filled quality, which contrasts nicely with the denser, more grounded feel of the trees. It reminds me a little of Van Gogh, in the way he uses paint to express an emotional response to the natural world. Both artists seem to understand that a painting is not just an image, but a record of a process, a way of thinking and feeling through color and form.