Elizabeth van Rysselberghe in a Cane Chair 1916

Theo van Rysselberghe made "Elizabeth van Rysselberghe in a Cane Chair" with oil on canvas sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Look at the way he built up the image with all those tiny dots. It's a process, a kind of dedicated labor. The painting is made up of all these points of color, a mosaic almost. Up close, the surface has so much texture, you can almost feel the dabs of paint. The way the light hits the white of her jacket, it's not just white, is it? There are touches of yellow, pink, blue...Look at the way the paint is layered, how each dab seems separate but contributes to the whole. And notice her face, particularly her eyes. The rest of the painting shimmers with light, but her gaze is steady, pulling you back to earth. This pointillist style makes me think of Seurat. Both were exploring how color and light could be broken down and reassembled. But with van Rysselberghe, there's something warmer, more intimate. It's like he's inviting you to slow down, to really see.