The Louvre, Gray Weather, Afternoon 1902

Camille Pissarro painted this little oil on canvas picture of the Louvre on a gray afternoon. I love the overall muted palette and the way that Pissarro builds the image out of tiny little brushstrokes, it’s like he’s thinking out loud. The texture of the paint is really important here. He’s not trying to hide the fact that it’s paint on canvas, you can see every mark, every decision. Look closely at the way he renders the sky, a swarm of dabs in blues, pinks, and whites that somehow give the impression of a cloudy sky and the way he renders the figures walking along the river bank, just tiny smudges of dark paint, somehow both abstract and descriptive. It reminds me a little of Morandi, who came a bit later, in the way that it finds something really special in the everyday. Art doesn't always have to shout, sometimes the quietest voices are the most powerful.