View of Collioure 1905

Andre Derain made this painting of Collioure with strokes that dance like sunlight on water. I imagine him standing before the scene, squinting, brush loaded, diving into the pure, almost feverish color. It's like he’s asking, what if everything is just a series of ecstatic marks? I love the way the yellows and oranges vibrate against the blues; it’s almost Fauvist, right? But there's something else going on here. A kind of searching. Look at the way the trees lean, so loose and free. I bet Derain was thinking about Van Gogh when he made this. All painters talk to each other across time like that. It's a reminder that painting isn't about representation but about feeling, about the messy, beautiful, ongoing conversation we’re all having with the world.