Village in Spring 1916

Gustave Loiseau painted this landscape with oil on canvas, probably en plein air, sometime around 1916. Look at how the pastel blues and greens of the landscape are built up from loose dabs of paint, like Seurat but more free and breezy. I can feel Loiseau outside, his hand moving quickly, trying to capture a fleeting moment of light. He’s not trying to copy nature but rather to channel the feeling of the day. I wonder if he knew Pissarro, because this village scene reminds me of his work – that gentle feeling and broken brushwork. There’s something so deeply human about these paintings, a longing for simpler times, maybe. They capture something essential, a fleeting impression of life unfolding. The artist's voice comes through across time. That's the magic of painting, right?