Evening on the pier 1920

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this pier scene with oil on canvas, and boy, does it have presence. What grabs me first is how Konchalovsky juggles thick, juicy strokes with these semi-transparent washes, especially in that sky. It’s like he's not just painting what he sees, but how he feels the scene. Look closely at the lower part of the image, the texture is so intense, you can feel the weight of each stroke. That one red tree is such a defiant gesture, isn’t it? And those crosses above the wall in the center, what are those all about? There’s a tension between the rough, physical application of paint and the more ephemeral, dreamlike quality of the composition. It’s the kind of painting that keeps you guessing, and that’s why I dig it. He reminds me a little of Soutine, someone else who knew how to push paint around.