Sand Castle 1909

Maurice Denis made this painting, *Sand Castle*, with oil on cardboard. It's a small painting, but it feels expansive, like a memory. The paint is applied in short, choppy strokes, almost like mosaic tiles. Look at the waves. They’re not smooth and flowing, but broken up into these little dashes of blue and white. It gives the whole scene a kind of shimmering, vibrating energy. The colours are saturated and dreamy. The red is so vibrant against the blues of the sea and sky; the whole palette feels very self-aware, not natural, but somehow emotionally true. I’m thinking of Bonnard, who used colour in a similar way, to evoke a mood rather than describe a scene. Both painters remind us that art is about feeling, and that paintings don’t have to be perfectly realistic to capture the essence of an experience. They can be more like dreams, full of light and color and a little bit of mystery.