Bords de la Seine à Vétheuil c. 1920

Henri Matisse probably brushed this landscape, Bords de la Seine à Vétheuil, onto a canvas with oils right there by the bank of the river Seine. Look at the way the paint is applied – not trying to trick you into thinking it's real, but laid on in flat strokes of green, brown, and grey. I wonder if he felt a certain kinship with the water, flowing and changing like his ideas on the canvas. See how the cool, grey strokes dance on the surface of the water, capturing the fleeting light? There is no outline. And those dark green strokes on the right side of the painting - that cluster of bushy trees. You can almost feel the weight of the foliage, the thickness of the air. He was so attuned to color and the way it could express emotion. Matisse, like many artists, built on the ideas of those who came before, and in turn, he paved the way for so many of us. Painting is an act of conversation. It’s not just about seeing, it’s about feeling, thinking, and responding to the world with all your senses.