Cemetery, south of France 1920

Rupert Bunny’s “Cemetery, south of France” is a painting, likely oil on canvas, that makes colour sing. Look at the way he layers the yellow, it’s not flat, it vibrates with the brushstrokes and texture. The painting has this all-over-ness, a field of vision where no one spot is more important than any other, that reminds me a little of Bonnard. This isn’t a measured view; the paint is applied in strokes that build up, one after another. I love how the strokes of yellow and brown in the foreground meet the grey-greens of the mountains. See how the brush seems to dance and play, skipping and stuttering across the canvas? The physicality of the paint gives the work its life. The real delight is in the top left where a dark green tree rises against the pale turquoise sky. It’s unexpected, and that’s what makes the painting so fresh. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the conversation that happens when you look, and keep looking.