Venice 1948

Enrico Prampolini painted Venice with oil on cardboard, but when? Look how Prampolini lets us see the bones of the painting, the layers that make it. The underpainting peeks through, giving the buildings a kind of shimmer. It feels like the place is breathing, like Venice herself is restless. The paint is laid on in these straightforward strokes, not trying to hide or blend. It's like he's saying, "Here's the paint, here's the color, here's how I see it." Notice that raw, almost childlike rendering of the buildings – the red one on the left, especially. It’s got this awkward charm. Thinking about other artists, I'm reminded of Lyonel Feininger's angular, almost crystalline cityscapes. Both artists capture a sense of place, but they also embrace the abstract qualities of paint itself. Prampolini invites us to wander through the painting, to get lost and find our own Venice.