District Six with view to harbour 1953

Gregoire Boonzaier made this painting of District Six with a view to the harbour with what looks like oil on canvas, although I don’t know when. The marks are so gestural, built up with thick impasto and a muted palette. I imagine Boonzaier shifting and adjusting as the painting comes into being, pushing the paint around, trying to capture the energy of this place. He’s building up a site of inquiry, not just for himself, but for us, the viewers. I wonder what Boonzaier was thinking as he was making it. There’s such a feeling of immediacy here. Like he was trying to capture the essence of the place. See the way the paint is applied so thickly? I notice the light is grey-blue. It makes the painting feel alive and full of feeling. Painters are constantly inspiring each other's creativity across time. Like Bonnard, he embraced ambiguity and uncertainty. There is no fixed meaning here.