Le Pin Bertaud 1909

Paul Signac made this drawing, Le Pin Bertaud, with ink and wash on paper, and it's all about the process, right? You can feel the artist thinking as he goes. Look at the way Signac uses these wet, washy marks to build up the form of the tree. It's like he's letting the ink do some of the work, letting it bleed and spread to create texture and depth. There's a real physicality to it, you know? The paper soaks it up. And that dark area, under the tree’s canopy, feels so heavy and dense because of the way the ink pools there. Signac was a pointillist, and you see the influence here in the way he uses these small marks to create a larger image. Think about how his contemporary, Seurat, also tried to capture light and atmosphere, but in a totally different way. Both artists show us that there is never just one way of seeing the world. There is always room for experimentation.