Landscape from Arges Valley 1971

Henri Catargi made this landscape of the Arges Valley with oil on canvas using greens, browns, and yellows, which is a reminder that painting is such a physical and intuitive act! You can see him dabbing at the canvas, trying to capture the feel of the place. Maybe he was thinking about how to translate the light and shadows he saw into something on the canvas. The paint is applied pretty thickly in some areas, giving a real sense of texture, like you could almost reach out and touch the landscape itself. Look at the way he's used short, broken strokes to create the foliage and the ground. There's something so immediate and expressive about it. This piece reminds me of other painters who were similarly interested in capturing fleeting impressions of light and atmosphere. Artists are always looking at each other, aren't they? Constantly building on what came before, adding their own spin, their own experience. Painting is so cool!