Rêverie 1904 - 1905

Jean-Jacques Henner made this painting, called Rêverie, using oil on canvas, but it's the way he works with the paint that really gets me thinking. There's something so open about his process. I love the way Henner builds up the image with these warm browns and the cool blues. Look at how the woman’s body emerges from the darkness, soft and hazy. It’s almost like he's sculpting with light, right? The paint is thin, almost transparent in places, and then thicker, more opaque in others. Notice the texture around the edges of the blue cloth, it's rough and broken, contrasting with the smooth skin. It’s all about touch, a real physicality, like he's trying to capture a fleeting thought or feeling. It reminds me of Corot's landscapes, how he blurred the lines between form and atmosphere, inviting us to get lost in the moment. Art's like that, it’s an invitation to see and feel differently, to embrace the ambiguity.