Marquesan landscape with horses 1901

This is Paul Gauguin's "Marquesan Landscape with Horses," painted sometime in the late 19th century, probably with oils. Look at how Gauguin builds up the scene with these energetic jabs of color, like he's knitting the landscape together. You can almost feel the thickness of the paint, can’t you? Notice especially how he’s built the foreground: it’s a riot of reds and yellows, these thick impasto daubs pulling you in. The way he uses purples and greens in the ground feels so unnatural, but it makes the whole scene hum with energy. See how the horses are just suggested, almost hidden? They're like secrets in the landscape. Gauguin's really playing with what’s real and what’s imagined here. It’s like he’s saying painting isn’t just about copying what you see, but about making something new, something that lives in its own painted world. You could compare this to some of Matisse’s later landscapes, where color does all the heavy lifting. Anyway, it’s all about the joy of seeing, right?