Summer Scene, Baie-Saint-Paul 1912

In Clarence Gagnon's 'Summer Scene, Baie-Saint-Paul', the blues feel almost tonal, like a dream. Imagine Gagnon, squinting at the Baie-Saint-Paul horizon, trying to capture that hazy summer light. I wonder, was he thinking about James McNeill Whistler’s nocturnes as he swirled those blues and greens together? What does it feel like to simplify a landscape into these blocks of colour? The paint isn't thick, but it's deliberate. See how the strokes build up the trees and hills? It's like he's stacking colour, finding the shapes within. That little house on the right, so cozy and solid. What a contrast to the distant, fading mountains. It's like Gagnon is reminding us of the tangible against the ephemeral. Painters, we're always in conversation. Looking, borrowing, pushing back. Each brushstroke is a little echo of what came before, a whisper of what might be.