Rue Jean Aicard, Bormes 1926

Lucien Pissarro rendered this landscape, titled Rue Jean Aicard, Bormes, using oil paint applied in small touches of colour. I can just imagine him, perhaps sitting on a rooftop, carefully observing how light interacts with the surrounding environment, and trying to catch it all in his brush. The way he builds up the image with these tiny strokes—it’s a testament to patience, a slow way of seeing and working. I wonder if he felt the same kind of pressure we do today, to be fast and efficient, or if he allowed himself the time to just be present with the scene? There’s something almost meditative about the repetition of these marks, building form and space, and it makes me consider the relationship between painting and perception. I'm reminded of the way Seurat worked, the father of pointilism, and how he influenced so many artists who followed. Painting is a form of embodied expression and these artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring one another's creativity. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.