Landscape of Falaise 1910

Raoul Dufy made this painting, Landscape of Falaise, with oil on canvas and, wow, there’s a real sense of joy in it, right? I love the way Dufy builds up the scene with these confident, almost childlike marks. It’s like he’s saying, “Here’s a tree, here’s a house,” but it’s all about the process, the doing, the joy of putting paint on the canvas. The paint is laid on pretty thickly. It feels like you can almost touch the texture of the scene, especially in the foliage. Look at how he uses color: those earthy reds and yellows, grounded by the thick strokes of green. The stark white lines that zigzag to the left, they are such a contrast, and add an almost graphic feel to the piece. Dufy reminds me a bit of Matisse, with that Fauvist love of bright colors and simplified forms, but Dufy brings a lightness and a sense of movement that's all his own. It’s like he's inviting us to see the world through his eyes, with all its quirks and charms.