Sooty winter landscape from Korana river en plein air 1994

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this landscape of the Korana River with watercolour, painting outdoors from life. It's a pretty stark scene; Krupa’s mark-making is bold, decisive, almost like he’s wrestling with the cold and the light, trying to capture something fleeting. There’s a real sense of the physical world here. The tones are muted, almost monochrome, which adds to the feeling of a cold, still winter’s day. The brushwork is loose, wet, and free; look at the way he suggests the trees and reflections, blurring the boundaries between solid form and watery reflection. It’s gestural, immediate, like he’s trying to catch the essence of the scene. And see how the blank parts of the paper speak as loud as the painted ones? The tonal range reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s grey paintings, though of course Krupa is working from observation, ‘en plein air’, making the experience more visceral. Overall, it’s a great example of how something minimal can evoke so much atmosphere and feeling.