Landscape with a Tree 1967

Vilen Barsky painted this landscape with a tree, using oil on canvas. I imagine him outside, feeling the air move and trying to capture the light. The paint is thin, almost watery in places, which gives the whole scene a hazy, dreamlike quality. Look at the way the green and pink strokes dance together, creating the sky and the rolling hills. There’s something so alive in the way Barsky laid down these marks, like he's trying to catch a fleeting moment. The tree is a simple shape, but it anchors the whole composition. I can feel the weight of it, standing there against the sky. The way he painted the leaves makes me think of other painters like Lois Dodd who find the sublime in the everyday. Painters are always in conversation with each other, riffing off each other’s ideas. Barsky’s painting reminds us that art is a way of seeing, feeling, and making sense of the world around us.