Staraya Ruza 1913

Robert Falk conjured Staraya Ruza from the early 20th century using oils on canvas. The painting has a real geometric feel, with strong greens, reds, and browns. I can imagine Falk working on this outside, maybe wrestling with the wind. He builds the scene from simple shapes, and the paint looks like it was applied thickly, maybe even with a palette knife. The way he uses color reminds me of Cézanne, but there’s also something uniquely Russian about it. The forms are solid, but they're also kind of dreamy, like he’s trying to capture the essence of the place rather than a photograph. You can see the influence of Cubism, but Falk does his own thing by balancing abstraction with real-world observation. It's like he's inviting us to see the world not just as it is, but as it could be, full of possibilities. It’s a painting that sticks with you.