Roter Abend - Blaue Berge 1910

Alexej von Jawlensky made this landscape, probably with oils, and the process is right there on the surface. You can see the juicy marks, and where the brush has been dragged leaving these little ridges. The colors are like emotional states – that acid orange sky, the blueberry mountains, and the house, which is sort of pink and purple but also a bit sick looking. It’s as if he's not just painting what he sees, but how he feels about it. Look at how he’s built up that house with chunky strokes, each one a slightly different color. It feels precarious, like it could fall apart at any moment. That's what's so exciting about painting: it's like a conversation where nothing is set in stone. Jawlensky reminds me a bit of Emil Nolde, in the way he uses color to convey a feeling, but he’s also doing his own thing here, embracing uncertainty and questioning what a painting can be.