Femme assise au bouquet de feuillage 1905

Jean Metzinger built up this painting, *Femme assise au bouquet de feuillage*, with a million little dots of pigment. Imagine the artist poised over the canvas, gently patting color on color, each touch a tiny universe of intention, until a whole figure materializes. What was Metzinger thinking as he built up this surface? Was he trying to capture the essence of light itself, or maybe he was just really into pointillism, like, obsessively so. I get that. You start and you can't stop! The texture, the color, the way the surface dances before your eyes. Look how the green sprig pops against the orange ground! It's like he's showing us how different forms of painting – impressionism, cubism – offer different ways of seeing and experiencing life, filtered through the artist's touch. It makes me want to grab a brush and join the conversation.