Roshanara 1919

Robert Henri made Roshanara with oil on canvas, and the way the strokes build up, it feels like the painting itself came together through this amazing process of intuition and correction. It's not about getting it right first time, it's more about a journey. I'm looking at the texture of the paint and I'm trying to imagine what it was like for Henri. The way the orange shawl drapes is just so evocative. I wonder if he had a clear image in his head, or was it more like an exploration? Did he even know this was going to be Roshanara when he started? When you look at the bold brushstrokes, you see the influence of artists like Manet and the Impressionists, but there's also a real American sensibility there too, a kind of directness. Artists are always in conversation, picking up ideas, and it is a reminder that paintings aren't just images, they're like frozen moments of thought, a record of an artist wrestling with the world.