View of Notre Dame 1911

Gustave Loiseau painted this view of Notre Dame with oil on canvas, we don’t know exactly when. See how he applies the paint in small, broken touches? Up close you can almost feel the gritty texture of the stone, but as you move back, the scene coalesces. I’m drawn to the way he captures the light, especially the soft glow on the cathedral's facade. It’s like he’s not just painting a building, but a feeling, an atmosphere. The paint isn’t trying to hide itself, it sits on the surface, like a mosaic or lots of little crumbs all clustered together. There is something about the way the light catches the stone that makes me think of Monet, though Loiseau feels less diffuse, more structured perhaps? Either way, what we are left with is something beyond pure representation, it’s a record of an encounter, a conversation between the artist and the world. And really, isn’t that what painting is all about?