Still life with lilacs by the sea 1955

David Burliuk made ‘Still Life with Lilacs by the Sea’ with oil on canvas, and he seems to have gone at it with a real gusto! Look at the physicality of the paint – thick, almost sculptural in places, especially in the lilac blossoms. It’s like he’s building the form right on the canvas. The colors are vibrant, almost Fauvist, but it's the way he applies the paint that really grabs me. Notice the impasto, those little peaks and valleys of paint, catching the light, creating texture. I imagine Burliuk, standing there, troweling the paint on with a palette knife, really getting into the materiality of it all. The way he's constructed the image with color is like a mosaic of feeling. Then there's that patch of turquoise sea, vibrating against the lilac blossoms. It’s a bold move, and it makes the whole painting sing. He reminds me of Emil Nolde, who also wasn't afraid of clashing colors and raw emotion. Burliuk’s painting feels like an open invitation, a dare to see the world in a new, more vivid way.