Au bord de la rivière 

Editor: This is "Au bord de la rivière," a landscape painting by Henri Lebasque, done in oil. The canvas is covered in dappled strokes. The whole thing feels bright, but hazy at the same time. What stands out to you about the composition? Curator: What arrests the eye immediately is Lebasque’s vibrant handling of color. Notice how the cadmium yellows and oranges are juxtaposed with cooler greens and blues. Does the interplay of complementary colors amplify the optical sensations of light and shadow? Editor: It does seem brighter somehow, more intense. I guess I’m just used to seeing a blue river! What's with that contrast of color here? Curator: Lebasque is fracturing color. Consider how the artist's touches build into larger forms, the brushwork almost vibrating. What we are really seeing are discrete points that coalesce, engaging with theories of perception, a characteristic of Post-Impressionism. Editor: So, instead of just painting a river, he's thinking about how we *see* a river? How does that make this Post-Impressionist and not just Impressionist? Curator: It departs from Impressionism precisely in this structured, analytical approach. The Impressionists recorded fleeting moments; Lebasque seems to construct a more lasting impression through considered application. Do you notice a formal underlying structure beneath the apparently loose brushstrokes? Editor: Now that you mention it, I do see it in the clear horizontal layers. There's the water, the bank, and then the trees that recede into the background. That kind of breaks the canvas apart but in a very pleasing way! Curator: Exactly. These underlying geometric frameworks lend the work a structural integrity often missing in pure Impressionistic studies. By isolating these different compositional elements, can we interpret their independent meaning as a cohesive formal relationship? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it that way before, seeing how the color creates an organized structure. I’ll look at paintings differently now! Curator: Hopefully now you notice how a canvas' color contributes to the overall composition of other Post-Impressionistic works, and other periods too.