Cagnes Landscape 1910

Renoir made this landscape with oil paint, maybe en plein air, so he could get the light right. I imagine Renoir standing there, squinting, trying to capture the feeling of the place. He's laying down these strokes of blues and greens, dabs of brown and red, trying to find the essence of the landscape. It’s like he's not just painting what he sees, but how it feels to be there, in that moment. Look how he layers the paint, thin washes, almost like watercolor, building up the form of the land. The paint isn’t overworked, but instead has a kind of lightness that seems to float on the canvas. See the way the tree is rendered with these energetic flicks of the brush? It’s not about perfect representation; it’s about capturing the energy and the movement of life itself. Painters like Renoir, they’re always in conversation with one another, responding to what came before, pushing the boundaries of what painting can do.