Landscape 1910

This landscape was made by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, using oil on canvas. I love that his paintings feel so... present. Like he's right there, squinting at the light with us. He isn't afraid to let the paint be itself, loose and a little messy. Look at the bottom of the painting; the strokes are like shorthand for grass and water. It's less about perfect representation and more about capturing a feeling, an impression. You can almost feel the dampness in the air. And that bare tree in the middle, it's not trying to be anything but itself. It's just there, a simple, honest shape, anchoring the whole scene. Renoir reminds me a bit of Bonnard, they both had this way of making the ordinary feel extraordinary. I think it’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth, and that there's no single right way to see the world.