Abramtsevo. Oak Grove. 1920

Pyotr Konchalovsky made 'Abramtsevo. Oak Grove' with oil on canvas, but when? Who knows. The painting is all about process, you can see the marks, it’s not trying to hide anything. It’s like he's saying, “Here's paint, here's a tree, deal with it.” I love how physical this painting is, you can see the texture of the brushstrokes, like he was wrestling with the paint. Those little dashes of green and brown, they build up the leaves, but they’re also just themselves, pure marks. The way the light hits the leaves, it’s almost abstract. Look at the lower left where the strokes of green and brown blend into the shade. It reminds me of Cezanne, but with a Russian soul. Konchalovsky's all about this raw, honest approach, kind of like early Guston. He's not trying to be perfect, he's just feeling the paint and letting it do its thing.