Marizy-Sainte-Geneviève c. 1910

Maurice Utrillo painted this street scene, Marizy-Sainte-Geneviève, with a muted palette, mostly greys, whites, and greens, that feels like a cloudy day in the French countryside. I can imagine Utrillo layering the paint, scraping it back, and then building it up again to create the textured surfaces of the buildings and the road. I wonder what it was like for him, standing there, trying to capture the essence of this quiet place? Perhaps he felt a sense of solitude, a kind of peaceful melancholy that seeps through the canvas. Look at the way he renders that long wall on the right – the paint is almost like stucco, rough and uneven, as if he’s trying to capture not just the look, but the feel of the place. You can see the influence of Impressionism in the way he captures light and atmosphere, but there's also something distinctly his own, a kind of rawness and honesty that reminds you of Van Gogh. All of these painters teach us to look closely at the world around us, and to find beauty in the everyday.