Nu au tapis vert c. 1920

Henri Lebasque painted "Nu au tapis vert," or "Nude on a Green Carpet," with oil on canvas, and though we don't know the exact date, it feels like the early 20th century. Look how he’s built up the surface with brushstrokes, the marks are so visible, a real testament to the process of artmaking. The way Lebasque uses the paint is interesting: it's neither particularly thick nor thin, but he allows the texture to remain present. The visible brushstrokes give a sense of the artist's hand at work, creating a lively surface. My eye keeps going to the bottom of the carpet. The touches of greens and blues feel almost arbitrary, they evoke the physicality of the medium and the gesture of the artist. Lebasque reminds me of Bonnard and Vuillard, that generation of painters interested in intimacy and the everyday. Like them, he's not trying to capture a likeness, but more a feeling. It’s a space of ambiguity and interpretation, one painting in an ongoing conversation about how we see and feel the world.