Summer Landscape 1966

Henri Catargi made this summer landscape painting using oil on canvas. I can imagine him outside with his easel, trying to capture the light. See how the greens mix with yellows, and even a bit of blue on the left. It's like he’s searching for the right shade, piling it on, then scraping it back. Those greens evoke the foliage, but they also feel melancholic in tone. You get the sense of a painter working quickly, trying to capture the essence of the scene before the light changes. Maybe he had only a few hours each day to work on it. I wonder if Catargi was looking at other landscape painters at the time - you know, trying to figure out how they did it, and then doing his own thing. We all do it. I like to think that artists are in an ongoing conversation, across time. They pick up on each other's ideas and try to bring something new to the conversation. Painting lets us see and feel the world in different ways, and there’s always more to discover.