Little Street of Montmartre, Paris 1960

Vytautas Kasiulis's Little Street of Montmartre is alive with blues and greens, with a touch of umber, probably made with oils or acrylic. You can imagine him dabbing paint onto the canvas, almost like he’s building the street, brick by brick. I wonder what Kasiulis was thinking as he made it? Did he want to capture a specific feeling? Was he interested in the forms? I imagine him trying to get the towers of Sacré-Cœur just right, those domes looming in the background like a dream. Look how the brushstrokes become the cobblestones, each one distinct, like a little thought. That smear of light blue at the top – is it sky? Or something else? I bet he worked fast, intuitively, feeling the painting out, letting it lead him. It makes me think of other painters like Bonnard, who also saw the world as a collection of colors. Painting, after all, is one big conversation – artists responding to each other across time. It’s like the painting invites us to slow down, to see the world with fresh eyes, and to find our own way through its beautiful uncertainties.