Cannes Scenery 1967

Umehara Ryuzaburo painted this Cannes Scenery with what looks like oil on canvas. The light blues and greens, soft pinks, and umber tones give a sun-faded kind of feeling to the painting. I'm picturing the artist standing in front of the canvas, brush in hand, trying to figure out how to capture the shimmering light on the water. You can almost see the back-and-forth, like a dance between what's observed and what's felt. Look at the way he lays down those blocks of color to create the buildings and trees. See how the paint is applied in these little dashes? It’s almost like he's building up the scene, bit by bit, trying to get at something beyond just the surface of things. I think he's searching for the essence of the place, not just a picture of it, you know? There's a real sense of experimentation and freedom in this painting. It reminds me that painting is not about perfect representation, but about an ongoing conversation with the world and with other painters.