Summer Breeze at Dinard 1907

Clarence Gagnon used oil on canvas to make this beach scene, Summer Breeze at Dinard. What I see is that the beach is really yellow, and the sky and ocean are blue. It's as if he took the essence of a beach, mixed it up, and then smeared it all over the canvas. It’s not a photograph; it’s more of a feeling, like a memory that's been rubbed a little blurry around the edges. You can tell Gagnon knew his way around impressionism. He’s playing with light, but he's also playing with something else. I'm thinking about him painting it, out there on the beach with the sand getting everywhere, trying to catch that particular light. Think of all the painters, from Monet to now, who’ve tried to get that beach feeling down. He's just one in a long line, all of them trying to say something about what it feels like to be alive, standing there, feeling the sun and the breeze. Each one is adding their own little brushstroke to the story.