Intérieur du Cazal, fauteuil rouge 1968

Jean Hugo made this painting of an interior, with a red armchair, sometime in the 20th century, using oil on canvas. It's got this wonderfully flat, almost stage-set kind of vibe, and the colors are so muted and earthy, like faded frescoes. The texture is really something – thick in places, especially where those blocks of color meet. You can almost feel the brushstrokes, like the paint was applied with a palette knife. Take a look at that big vase on the left, with the tiny plant springing out of it - there's a kind of awkwardness to it, but the color really sings out from the pinky-purple ground. It's as if Hugo is more interested in the act of painting than in creating a perfect representation. This reminds me of Morandi's still lifes, those humble arrangements of bottles and jars, where the real subject is the light and the way it transforms everyday objects into something almost mystical. Art, like life, is all about seeing and finding those moments.