Sorrowful Landscape 1946

Andre Derain made this oil painting, Sorrowful Landscape, working with an earthy palette to give it a kind of brooding, heavy feel. You can see the process in the swirling clouds, right? It’s like he’s pushing and pulling the paint around, trying to capture something that’s not quite there. The paint itself is pretty thick, especially in those clouds, giving them a real sense of weight, pressing down on the land below. Notice how the strokes curve and loop, almost like calligraphy, giving a rhythm to the scene. It makes you feel something, doesn’t it? That little flick of orange on the horizon, like a last gasp of light, is incredible, it's a glimmer of hope in all that darkness. Derain reminds me of someone like Albert Pinkham Ryder. They both had a knack for finding beauty in the gloom, and for using paint to express something deep and a little bit mysterious. It’s art that keeps you guessing.