Kitchen Garden in Eragny, Afternoon 1901

Camille Pissarro made this painting, Kitchen Garden in Eragny, Afternoon, with oil on canvas, somewhere, sometime. Looking at it, the first thing I notice is the way Pissarro builds up the scene with these short, broken brushstrokes, like he’s knitting the garden together, bit by bit. The colors are earthy and warm, mostly greens and reds, with dabs of blue sky peeking through. You can almost feel the sun beating down on the scene. Check out the lower right, the way he layers greens, darker and lighter, to create depth in the foliage. It’s like he’s not just painting what he sees, but how he feels being in this garden, you know? Pissarro seems to be in conversation with someone like Cezanne, who was also super interested in how we see and experience the world around us. It’s all about the process, the looking, the feeling, and the never-ending search for something new.