La Moulade 1905

Henri Matisse must have had such a great time making this painting with all its saturated colors and simplified forms. Look at that cobalt blue sea, its color is just straight from the tube. I imagine him on location, painting in direct response to what he sees. There's such a materiality to the painting: the expressive brushwork captures the craggy coastline with thick impasto. It's all about capturing the raw energy of the landscape. The forms may be simplified, almost abstracted, but they evoke a sense of place so well. Matisse wasn't just painting a scene but also his own feelings and experiences. It's the kind of freedom that makes painting so endlessly fascinating, and it carries over to us as we look at the image and see the possibilities of paint itself.