Berkeley #59 1956

Richard Diebenkorn’s Berkeley #59 is a square canvas of oil paint, but it’s also so much more. The colours are laid down in these chunky horizontal bands, like the landscape of the mind. There is this luscious, buttery texture that comes from the way he applies the paint, thick and generous, with visible brushstrokes. Look at the lower left, where the strokes are darker, thicker, and layered – it’s like he was working through something there. That one spot holds all the energy of the painting. It makes me think of Joan Mitchell, another painter who knew how to wrestle with the medium to make something so raw and beautiful. Ultimately, Diebenkorn gives us a sense of art as a conversation, a constant push and pull between what we see and how we feel.