Pustka - Stare gniazdo 1901

Ferdynand Ruszczyc built this painting, "Pustka - Stare gniazdo" – which means "Emptiness - Old Nest" - with oil paints, probably sometime in the early 20th century, and you can see how the process of its making is so important to its meaning. Just look at those clouds; they are built up with such thick, expressive strokes. The paint is really loaded onto the canvas, making them almost tactile. You can practically feel the weight and movement of the sky. The building itself is more thinly painted, which gives it a kind of ghostly feeling, like it's fading into the landscape. See how the colors in the building seem to echo the colors in the sky and the earth? It's like everything is connected. Ruszczyc reminds me a little of Edvard Munch, someone else who was super interested in expressing inner emotional states through landscapes. And like Munch, Ruszczyc leaves us with questions rather than answers, embracing the ambiguity of feeling.