Giorgio Morandi
Natura Morta
1956
oil on canvas
In this painting, the objects that are placed close to each other appear to have more mass then a single object that is placed higher in the image. A mass of objects exerts pressure on the adjacent empty space with an object above it. A strange tension arises between the group of objects, the detached object and the empty space between them. The empty space seems almost a presence.
The lines that represent the shadows between two objects also have a clear presence. Morandi gives a single line a lot of responsibility. The objects are almost reduced to shapes and lines, but are never only that. He places the strength of a line in the tension between his simplicity as a line and his existence as something else.
It touches me how Morandi almost always used a number of everyday objects such as pots, jugs and vases as the starting point for his work. How he could give so much attention to such a simple, everyday subject. The objects have a kind of human appearance. A tension between things has been created with great care. A tension that you can compare with relationships between people.
When a painter's gesture is a painter's gesture but at the same time something else I find interesting. I use the properties of paint: The width of the brush stroke, the transparency of paint, the precision in how the shape is set and how the paint stroke overlaps. But it always refers to something existing. What is important to me is that the image feels close. This is mainly about attention and simplicity. Attention while observing the object, carefully placing shapes in relation to each other, mixing the correct intensity of paint and the final determination of the frame of the painting.
Romee van Oers, 2020
Romee van Oers (NL)
Vier rollen
2020
175 x 190 cm
egg-tempera on linen
rk
