Women on the Beach, Etrétat 1920

Henri Matisse made this painting, Women on the Beach, Etrétat, with oil paint on canvas, a classic choice for a painter back then. Just imagine Matisse standing on the beach with his easel. How many paintings did he make of this view? I like to think about him squinting at the scene, trying to capture the light on the water, the way the cliff rises up like some giant sleeping beast. That pale cliff is echoed in the milky clouds above. I love the way he's scrubbed the paint on thinly in places, letting the canvas breathe, and then layered it on thicker in others, especially in that dark sea. It is as if the beach were breathing. You can feel the weight of the place, even in these light, airy brushstrokes. Think of all the other painters who came before Matisse who have painted the sea and sky. He knew that history and was in dialogue with it, trying to find his own way of seeing.