Landscape with Factory 1906

Henri Rousseau made this ‘Landscape with Factory’ out of oil paint and probably a whole lot of patience. It’s got this dreamy, almost naive quality. There’s something about how Rousseau lays down the paint, thin and deliberate, that makes you think about the process. Each little tree, each tiny person, feels carefully placed. Take that factory smoke; it's like a soft, gray ribbon unfurling across the sky, painted with such delicate precision. It’s not just smoke, it’s a gesture. And the way he balances the industrial with the pastoral, it's kind of amazing. Like, is this a happy place, or not? Rousseau's work reminds me of Guston, who also painted the everyday with a kind of awkward tenderness. They both get at something real, but not in a way that's trying to trick you. It's real because it's felt. It's real because it's imagined. Art doesn't have to be one thing or the other. It can be both.